


IX (A Twice Witches AU)

by lvelyeon



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band), LOONA (Korea Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Gay, Lesbian, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Witch AU, Witches, tzuyu talks to animals what more could you ask for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:00:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 48,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23605699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lvelyeon/pseuds/lvelyeon
Summary: Thousands of years before the world became what we know, there laid a prophecy. One that predicted the absolute end. It never informed the scribes of the reason, nor how to stop it. All that was told of the highest of high was that seven women would play a big part.A woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.A witch born from death.A witch whose biggest power was being underestimated.A woman who could never trust.A witch who wasn’t born a witch.A witch with enough humanity to change the world a hundred times over.And a witch whose greatest weapon was her heart.| Or an au where twice and other iconic kpop idols are witches and shit. |*was originally titled 'Enchantment'*
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu & Son Chaeyoung, Chou Tzuyu/Myoui Mina, Ha Sooyoung/Son Chaeyoung, Hirai Momo/Park Jisoo | Jihyo, Im Nayeon/Minatozaki Sana, Kim Dahyun/Kim Yerim, Myoui Mina/Yoo Jeongyeon
Comments: 14
Kudos: 106





	1. A Few Things That Weren't Accounted For.

Thousands of years before the world became what we know, there laid a prophecy. One that predicted the absolute end. It never informed the scribes of the reason, nor how to stop it. All that was told of the highest of high was that seven women would play a big part. 

A woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders. 

A witch born from death.

A witch whose biggest power was being underestimated.

A woman who could never trust. 

A witch who wasn’t born a witch. 

A witch with enough humanity to change the world a hundred times over.  
And a witch whose best weapon was her heart. 

How these people would affect the end of the world, nobody knew, but they had their ideas. 

Some theorized that these women were Gods who would come down in a rapture and go to war with one another, causing a celestial bloodbath and blowing the world to smitherenes. 

Others (men, mostly) thought it was absurd, and suspected some sort of failed attempt at saving the world from an unavoidable natural disaster. 

The only thing anyone could truly agree upon was that these women had to be stopped at all costs. 

Scribes, Quizmasters and Oracles alike all figured that if these women were never born, if they never blossomed, then the end of the world would never come. 

And so, starting with the most compliant, witches began to nutralize any threat that came about. 

Well, almost any threat. 

There were a few things that weren’t accounted for.


	2. The Prophecy!

“Don’t tell me you got caught.” Whispered Jeongyeon to her friend as the brunette got comfortable in her usual place on Jeongyeon’s bed. 

“I’m an adult, Jeong.” Nayeon rolled her eyes, “Getting caught was the least of my worries.” She assured as she kicked her feet up on the metal bed frame of Jeongyeon’s king sized bed. 

“Then what took you so long?” The blonde scoffed, and Nayeon hesitated before muttering out a response. 

“...I was waiting for my mom to go to sleep.” 

“Jesus.” Jeongyeon chuckled with the shake of her head before sighing. “I’m gonna miss you.” 

“Stop that!” Nayeon hissed, slapping her companion on the arm. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

“You know that’s just wishful thinking, Nay. There’s no way we’ll get out of here by next week.” 

“I mean…” The older girl rolled her eyes, “It’d be really, really easy to get out. Like, I literally just have to close my eyes.” 

“I know,” Sighed the taller woman before pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. “My moms would never forgive me if I didn’t fulfill my duty as a warrior though, you know that.” 

"God," Nayeon rolled her eyes dramatically, "you're always so serious. You guys make it sound like the cold war. The battlefield wouldn't miss one witch." 

"I know…" Jeongyeon sighed, "But it'd miss this witch. I can't let other covens fight my battle." 

Nayeon huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in distaste at Jeongyeon’s stubbornnes. 

“Fine. But don’t die, or I’ll find a necormancer to revive you and then kill you again.” Nayeon complained, making her friend giggle before curling into her and holding her close, as they’ve done for as long as they’ve been friends. 

“Deal.” She murmered against her best friend’s hair as she began to doze off into the last peaceful slumber she’d feel for a long time. 

… 

“C’mon, Jihyo, you can do this.” Grunted Jihyo’s father from behind her, gripping her shoulders with a tightness that made her wince. 

“D-dad, you’re hurting me…” She whimpered at the sensation, and the man growled at his daughter. 

“You can stop me if you really try, Hyo.” He promised, “Just access my mind and ask me to let go. That’s all it takes.” His voice was low and dangerous, and his breath was laced with fire water, something she knew made him unreasonable. 

Something he abused often nowadays. 

“Dad,” Jihyo cried, tears welling in her eyes, “I-I can’t do it, p-please.” She pleaded, and the man let out a roaring exclaimation of anger before pushing her head into the book roughly, making the young witch yelp in pain at the sensation of her nose hitting the pages.  
Jihyo wiped her tears, then the blood that trickled down her lips, off onto a handkerchief she had in tucked in the bust of her robe before standing up, taking the soiled book with her as she walked through the library.

She walked up to a dusty mirror decorating the walls and waved her hand across her reflection to clean the surface and see through the dinge to her face, tear stained, and more eerily of all, blood stained. 

She sighed and closed her eyes before opening them and being forced to look at a visibly flawless face once again. 

Though she was clean, and the pain in her nose and head were gone, the pain in her chest was something a simple spell could not alleviate.

This was the third time this week. 

The last time, he slammed a six thousand page encylcepedia on her fingers because she miss-spoke a single word after a five minute speed read on it. 

He didn’t even catch it at first, which is what angered Jihyo the most. 

He had to go back and read the book to ensure she had gotten everything right, and after getting tired and dehydrated, she took a breath in the middle of a ninety two syllable long word. 

So she was punished. 

Angrily, Jihyo slammed the book in her hands on the table, disrupting the blanket of dust on the surface, and, at the same time, making the doors of the library slam shut. 

“He shouldn’t do that to you.” Muttered a small voice, and Jihyo was startled as she turned to face who was talking to her from the blacony of the third story of the endless library. 

“Who are you to talk, stack wench?” Jihyo hissed with the roll of her eyes before being stricken with guilt at what she’d said. “I...I’m sorry, I-I don’t know what came over me, that wasn’t fair to you.” She muttered, and the blonde girl chuckled, appearing beside Jihyo in a second. 

“I’m used to it. People don’t usually take kindly to me.” She shrugged before looking over the book Jihyo had thrown on the table in her rage. She turned it to the cover and read over the title. “‘Indundation of Mortal and Immortal Psyche?’” She asked with intrigue, and Jihyo rolled her eyes.

“There has never been a witch in existance to even surpass telekenesis, let alone mind control. He’s crazy.”

“Well, I read somewhere that any witch can expand their abilities beyond what is expected, based on training, instinct, will power, and natural talent.” The girl chimed, “I don’t think it’s impossible, but I don’t think forcing you to do it is a healthy methodology.” The girl hummed as she hoisted herself to sit up on the table beside the desk. 

“I’ve never seen you before.” Jihyo admitted, tilting her head inquisitively toward the blonde woman, who shrugged. 

“I’m almost always here. I have been since I learned how to read.” She explained, “Reading is kind of all I’m good for.” 

“Oh, are you the coven bookkeeper?” Asked Jihyo, remembering hearing many people speak of the human girl who grew up in the Archives, but she never spent much time out of the coven leader’s mansion when most of the important books were duplicated into her father’s personal Archives, allowing her to study them from home. 

“The one and only.” Sana jumped down and bowed exasperatedly, making Jihyo giggle. 

“Don’t bow to me, I hate it when father makes people do that. I’m just like you.” She insisted, but the girl frowned. 

“Well, at least you can do a simple healing spell.” She grumbled, and Jihyo rolled her eyes. 

“It’s stupid for you to feel jilted because of our lack of magical powers when it makes you unique, being the only one unalike everyone else.” Jihyo rationalized, “And when you have knowledge, supernatural abilities are simplyan accessory you don’t need to thrive.” 

“Yeah…” The human pouted, “It doesn’t hurt though.” She added, making Jihyo giggle. 

“I’m Jihyo.” She offered, along with a hand, and the human smiled at her act of kindness. 

“I’m Sana.” 

… 

“Tzuyu-ah!” Wined someone from below Tzuyu’s field of vision, so she looked down and turned around to be met with the face of a little Hooki she called her friend. 

“Mili-ah!” The young witch wined back before kneeling down to look at the little green creature, putting her hands out for him to use his long, stringy legs to step opon it. He had scales and one eye in the middle of his pyramid shamed body. “What do you need?” She grinned at Mili, who huffed out of his little purple nose. 

“You haven’t come to visit us in ages. You used to visit every day.” Tzuyu frowned before beginning her walk throughout the Spiritus Forest, as she had done almost every day as a teenager. 

“I know, Mili, I’m sorry, but I’m growing up.” She lifted the hem of her white dress to keep it from dragging across the toadstools while she trekked around barefooted, trusting the plants not to hurt her as much as the plants trust her to save them from death. “I’m due to be married tomorrow morning, so I’ve been making preparations.” She explained, and Mili’s eye sparkled with excitement. 

“A wedding? I love weddings! Can I come?” He asked, and Tzuyu frowned again. 

“Trust me, it’s not a fun wedding.” 

“How could a wedding ever not be fun!?” He asked as though it was a preposterous proposition. “The joining of two souls in matrimony, to show their families of their love for one another…” She trailed off dreamily, but the witch sighed sadly. 

“I don’t love her.” Tzuyu sighed sadly, and finally, Mili understood, and his legs gave out so he could sit on her palm sadly. 

“Oh…” He drooped dejectedly, and the witch sighed. 

“I know. But it’s my duty as the next heir to coven leadership.” She sighed, and the small creature kicked his tiny stick legs off the side of Tzuyu’s hand, and Tzuyu knew that if the species was born with hands or wings, he’d be fiddling with his fingers nervously. 

“Is she nice, at least?” He asked, and Tzuyu shrugged. 

“I haven’t met her yet. But her coven is full of really aggressive people, so I can’t assume she’ll be very different. 

… 

“Did you need some soup?” Asked Mina of a boy who was sitting under a tattered blanket near the fire. He nodded thankfully as he recieved the bowl she offered and used the steam to warm his nose. “Good luck in battle, tomorrow.” She said kindly before pulling her robes closer to her body to cover herself from the gaze of every man who looked at her as they always did. 

“Minari!” Grunted her father angrily as he approached her with his limp extra prominant today. 

“Yes, Papa?” She said in her small, soft voice as she approached him, bowing as she awaited his instruction. 

“I wanted to make sure you were ready to head to the Peacemaker’s village at dawn.” He reminded, and Mina looked up through her eyelashes, feeling a pang in her chest at the reminder that she was being given away. 

“Yes, Papa. I’m all packed and ready.” She sighed, and he grunted before walking away.

Mina felt useless. 

She was the only woman in the entire coven, and for as long as she’s been alive, she’s always felt lost. Helpless. 

Like dead weight. 

She was always known as the one who saw the soldiers off to battle, and watched them come and go, dying to defend a coven whose only constant at this point were her and her father.

Though nobody ever wanted to fight for her. 

Everyone saw Mina as a burden, even when she was feeding the entire coven and keeping them warm when they were incapable of it, because, of course, their hands materialized ice. 

So, of course, at the first chance, they would send her to live with the Peacemakers. Let her make laws that had to do with keeping order, rather than changing the world, or fighting to better the coven. 

Instead she’s been set on some bullshit initiative to ‘unite the covens’ when everyone knew very well that a coven that specializes in warfare has no care for peace, or for using their resources. 

She was just being dumped on somebody else. 

She sighed before going back to her tent to meditate. 

She sat on the floor and crossed her legs into themselves before closing her eyes, palms up, lips tight as she allowed her mind to relax. 

She thought of all she wished to have in her life, of a dream she held for as long as she could remember. 

She longed to be a hero. 

She wished with every fiber of her being to be seen for her power. 

To be seen as more than just some woman to be cast away, or given to someone else. 

She was better for more than bringing soup to little boys, and she so longed for her people to see and appreciate that. 

She wanted to be strong. 

Most of all, she wanted to belong to something. 

To be loved, really loved. Not this sad excuse for love that definitely wasn’t love. 

So, she imagined herself, surrounded by beauty and wonder, and someone who would hold her hand when things got hard. Someone to marry who loved her for who she was. 

Though most of the time she herself didn’t even know who she was. 

She sighed sadly before opening her eyes, only to be met with her reflection staring at her from between her legs. 

Great, she thought as she stood up as carefully as she could, so not to slip on the thin sheen of ice she’d created across the floor of her tent. She stood, feet shoulder width apart, palms up to the sky, and willed everything inside of her to melt the ice, something she could only do when her heartrate rose high enough to make her feel warm. 

She held her breath and thought about all the times she’d been pushed to the side. 

Of the time her father shoved her to the ground when she tried to help in a sudden invasion. 

Of the time Minho had called her a sissy witch when she cried over the death of her friend who came back from battle wounded. 

Her friend, the only man in their coven who had ever believed in her. 

She remembered the way he smiled at her and big her farewell, insisting she’d see him the next day, but when the fleet returned three days later, Yuta was bleeding through the sheen of ice they’d put over the palm-sized wound that had been burnt into his chest. 

Mina opened her eyes when she felt a chill wash over her body, watching the water slither up her legs and soak into the pores of her skin, all the way up her body until her robes were damp and her skin was moist.

She sighed before lying down on the ground under her covers and smiling at the memory of freezing the lake over when Minho was swimming later that evening. 

It took him forty five minutes to fight his way out, and when he glared at her, she felt the satisfation in being able to smirk back at him and throw those same words at him. 

“Sissy witch.” 

… 

Back on the other side of the celestial plane, in another realm, in another world, one with more conventional means of society, there stood a small girl with a big smile, bright eyes, and a dream. 

“Kim Dahyun.” Smiled the shop owner at her customer, who eyed a particularly bright looking crystal with intrigue. 

“Tell me, Kim...” Muttered the old white lady distractedly. 

“U-uh, Dahyun.” She corrected, and she blonde woman shook her head. 

“Yeah, yeah, Diane… what exactly are these crystals supposed to do?” She asked skeptically, and the Korean girl cleared her throat to shake off the insulting interaction. 

“They’re supposed to bring in good energy, and manifest-” 

“Manifesting?” Interrupted the lasy with a scoff. “So it isn’t real magic?” She asked, emphasizing the word before ‘magic,’ making Dahyun’s body go rigid. 

“Well, the only magic that isn’t real is-” 

“All magic.” The bottle blond suburban mother interrupted again with the roll of her eyes before setting the crystal down harshly and storming out. 

Dahyun groaned and leaned her forehead down to rest on the marble counter beside the register. 

“Still no luck?” Asked a small voice from behind a shelf, and the shop owner sighed. 

“I’m afraid that’s the fourth customer to walk out on me since we opened.” She sighed before taking a seat on the stool behind the counter. 

“In that case…” Said her new friend as she walked around the shelf with a pack of tarot cards, handing them to Dahyun. “I’d like to buy these, please.” 

“You bought a pack of these last week,Yerim.” The older girl pointed out, making Yerim shrug. 

“These are a gift.” 

“Oh yeah?” Dahyun giggled, and Yerim nodded as though she were 100% convinced of the lie she had just uttered to her friend, and it worked. “Fine.” The blonde relented before taking the box and ringing it up. “But let me buy you a coffee in return.” She insisted, making Yerim grin. 

“Only if I can call it a date.” She challenged, making the shop owner blush. 

“I-if that’s what you want.” Dahyun shrunk, and Yerim giggled. 

“Why wouldn’t that be what I want, Dahyunnie?” She asked, eyes falling from Dahyun’s eyes to her lips. 

“I mean… most people wouldn’t come within ten feet of me.” She explained, ignoring the fact that Yerim’s question was obviously rhetorical. 

“I’m obviously not most people, am I?” She flirted, and the blonde giggled before looking down to her fidgeting fingers. 

“I’d love to take you on a coffee date.” Dahyun smiled blissfully, and Yerim smiled before pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket to set on the counter. 

“Great! I’ll see you at ten tomorrow.” She exclaimed, leaning over the counter to plant a quick kiss on Dahyun’s cheek before taking the cards and running out before Dahyun could give Yerim her change.

The shop owner caressed her cheek where Yerim’s lips touched, looking at the door blankly, brain short circuiting from trying to process what the hell just happened. 

Coming to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to process it, Dahyun simply sighed as she looked after the girl’s presence. 

“This girl…”

… 

The next day, Tzuyu found herself rushing around, making preparations for the wedding that would be taking place in just an hour. 

She had just gotten word from her mother’s cooncort, Wendy, that her suitress has arrived to the village, which means she will be allowed to meet her before they are due to wed. 

Needless to say, she was nervous to meet the woman she would be marrying. After meeting her father, how much better can she be if she was descended from a man who so wished to kill the way he did? 

Of course, this coven unity meant that the Ice Coven would stop their barbarics and turn over a leaf of peace. 

Though, she worried for her village, what it would be like having these men intruding it. She assumes that a coven full of nomads will have a hard time staying in one place for too long. What if they got restless? Living this calm life of peace and bliss?

How would they take their frustrations out? 

She wondered if they’d be taken out on the wildlife around, given her coven was one who thrived off the plantlife, rather than relying on the animals for sustenance, whereas the Ice Coven is known to be filled with hunters. 

What if-

“Miz Chou, your suitress is outside.” Uttered another concort who had, thankfully, brought her out of her thoughts in enough time to pat her dress down and adjust the red rose in her hair before clearing her throat. 

“Let her in.” She said authoritatively, and the man nodded before opening the large wooden doors to bring her face to face with someone she’s been waiting to meet since she heard of the annointing as a kid, 

Her greatest destiny, a proud and nobil warrior, a-

“H-hi!” The girl stammered, her voice cracking as she stepped to cross the threshold of the door, tripping over her robes in the process. 

A clumsy idiot. 

Once the shorter woman regained her balance, she looked up with a blush before making her way to address her betrothed. 

“I’m Myoui Mina, y-your bride to be.” She bowed, holding her robes out at her sides, and suddenly, Tzuyu was less nervous to marry. 

“I’m Chou Tzuyu.” She bowed back, trying her best to hide the amusement on her lips in the form of a smile. 

“You’re… a lot taller than I expected.” Mina blushed, scratching the back of her neck nervously, and the dimpled witch couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Well, you’re a lot smaller than I expected.” Tzuyu countered, making the ice witch look down to her feet nervously. 

“I hope that’s not a bad thing.” She muttered nervously, something that Tzuyu couldn’t help but smile at. 

What was she so worried about? 

She stepped forward and took Mina’s hands, trying her best not to react to the icy sensation on her skin, begging the shorter girl to look up at her. 

“You are not what I expected, Mina.” Tzuyu promised, “In the best way.” She added, making Mina finally look at her, giving her a small, shy smile, that was very easily reciprocated. 

“Where are your people?” Tzuyu asked, looking behind Mina to see if they were beyond the threshold of her chambers. When she looked back at her betrothed, the woman was giving her a confused look. 

“They went off to fight… as planned.” She reminded, and the taller witch gave her a look of equal confusion. 

“What are you talking about?” Asked Tzuyu, as she unhanded the ice witch, and Mina seemed just as lost. 

“Wasn’t the point of uniting the covens today that our soldiers can fight together?” She asked as though it were common knowledge, and Tzuyu’s expression melted from confusion to anger. 

“Absolutely not!” She rose her voice, making Mina just back in a fright. “The point of uniting the covens was so that we could come together in peace!” She began to pace back and forth as she racked her brain for something to do. “How long ago did they leave for battle?” Tzuyu asked the frightened witch, who stammered out a response. 

“Th-they went straight to the grounds. I arrived in a different caravan. Y-your soldiers met them hours ago.” 

“We have to stop them!” Tzuyu demanded, “My people were not built to fight!” 

“They’re already in battle,” Mina blinked nervously, “We’ll never make it in time.” She rationalized, causing Tzuyu to huff before racing to a window and whistling outward, making it echo throughout the land, over the mountians and into the trees. 

They waited for a moment, and Tzuyu almost worried that her lack of attention to the creatures in Alsudfa Forest had affected her relationship with them. 

Almost. 

She felt her face light up when she heard the flapping in the distance, and even more when she saw the shadow cast over her. 

“Is that a-” 

“Kadori Pixie?” Tzuyu grinned over her shoulder. “Yes. Yes she is.” The nature witch swung her leg over the window’s threshold and held her hand out for Mina’s grasp. 

“Wait, you want me to go help you stop a war?” Mina asked, speechless that anyone would ever want her help. 

“You have ice powers, right?” Tzuyu asked as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“W-well yeah, but-” 

“Come on!” Tzuyu urged before jumping atop the large, blue winged creature, yelling over the loud wooshing of her wings. “When is a time you can ever call yourself a hero if you don’t take the jump?” 

Mina contemplated her choices. 

Stay here and let her wife to be do all the work and prove to her and the rest of her coven that she’s just as useless as everyone thought. 

Or jump on the back of that pixie and do something worthy of a coven leader. Take action and be a hero. 

“Okay.” Mina nodded, determined to show Tzuyu that she is indeed worthy to lead by her side. 

… 

Chaeyoung’s eyes shot open when she felt the first burst of energy wash over her, meaning only one thing. 

The war has begun. 

She doesn’t even need to go above ground and hear the screams or breakings of bones. She doesn’t need to smell that awful, stomach churning smell of burnt flesh. 

She can feel all the souls leaving their bodies. 

She can feel them getting lost on their way to cross over. 

She can feel her heart beating again, and for that, she wishes she herself were dead. 

“They’re not gonna greet themselves.” Muttered a voice behind her, and she sighed before turning around in her place to face the eyes of her beloved. 

“Can’t I just stay with you? A little longer?” She asked, her eyes pleading beyond the depths of the crypt they inhabited. 

“As much as I wish I could say yes…” She swallowed a lump in her throat before tucking a strand of hair behind Chaeyoung’s ear, “You have a job to do.” 

Chaeyoung felt a tear fall from her left eye and soak into the tattered pillow below her head, and her lover smiled sadly before wiping it away with the pad of her thumb. 

“I’ll see you when you get back.” She assured, and Chaeyoung’s voice cracked as she spoke, taking her girlfriend’s face in her hands. 

“What if it takes centuries this time?” The blonde girl whimpered, and the woman holding her smiled sadly. 

“I could endure nine thousand years without you if it meant I could spend one more hour with you, my love.” She promised, and the witch pulled her closer, nuzzling into her neck. 

“Then let me spend this one hour with you, here, now.” She begged, soaking the woman’s flesh with her tears. 

“You know we can’t do that, Chae.” She sniffled before moving away and resting her forehead against Chaeyoung’s. “I’ll wait for you. And if I sense danger, I’ll come find you.” 

“Promise?” Chaeyoung asked, her eyes puffy and voice hoarse as she looked into those big brown eyes. 

“With all my heart.” She smiled, and Chaeyoung nodded before taking her lover’s face between her hands and locking their lips together in a kiss that could very well be their last. 

Once the two pulled away, cheeks stained with each other’s tears, Chaeyoung stood to her feet and walked to the corner of the small, dark, airless room to grab her robes and pull them over her shoulders, taking in deep breaths despite not needing them. 

“Until next time, Chaeyoung.” She smiled sadly from her place on the bed, and the blonde’s lip quivered. 

“Until next time, Jinsoul.” Chaeyoung swallowed a sob as she waved her hand over the stone entrance to conjure it open. “I love you, with all my heart.” 

And with that, she ducked through the entrance and found herself in the middle of the warzone, the place she’s lived for as long as she’s been alive. 

She looked around and saw the attrocities being comitted, from the spears of ice being driven into hearts, to vessels of life running around, screaming in pain at the flames that engulfed every inch of their fragile human skin. 

This is where she had to be, this is where destiny has willed her long, painful existence. 

… 

Jeongyeon’s heart pounded against her ears as she tried to regain her breathing from her place, where she hid behind a tree. Her fingeres trembled, the soot coating them making it hard to determine whether she was developing frostbite from the opponent she had acquired. 

“Give it up, girl.” Spat the ice witch as he approached, heavy footed with rage in the pit of his stomach. Afterall, Jeongyeon was a fire witch, and she could sense the flame of vegence in the core of his being. “You’re just a child, destined to die at the hands of war, deserving of it for being naaiive enough to believe you stood a chance.” 

Jeongyeon’s throat was horse, so she dared not talk and show weakness. 

The man had two ice blades in his hands, sharp and ready to plunge through Jeongyeon’s chest at any moment, and she could feel her head swimming, disoriented from the blows she’s already taken, mixed with the deafening sounds of her friends and families dying around her. The only thing keeping her standing now was the tree she hid behind like a coward. 

Her moms would be embarrassed if they saw her now. 

Ready to give up just two hours into her first battle.

Against men, no less. 

“You’re not dying on my watch!” Whispered a familiar voice from behind her, making Jeongyeon jump in a start. 

“Nayeon, what on earth are you doing here?!” Jeongyeon shouted as quietly as she could, and the messenger witch sighed. 

“I put a ticker tracker in your armor so I can pop in and save you if I need to.” She hissed back. 

“Oh, you have a friend with you…” Laughed her oponent maniacally as he closed in on the tree. 

“Nayeon, go home!” Jeongyeon demanded, and Nayeon rolled her eyes before disappearing before Jeongyeon’s eyes. The fire witch sighed and moved to pop out from behind the tree at last, only to see her opponent holding the blade to the neck of her best friend. 

God damn it Nayeon. 

“What did I say?!” She hissed to her friend, who was too busy trying to pull the man’s blade away from her throat, blood falling from her palms as the edge broke her skin. 

Suddenly, there was a loud thundering noise that washed over the battlefield, yet still, nobody stopped fighting to see what it was. 

“Give it up, woman!” Spat the ice witch who held her friend with a deep, maniacal laugh. “Tell your superiors to surrender to our will or I’ll kill your ally!” 

Jeongyeon watched Nayeon’s eyes roll, and couldn’t help the smirk that came to her lips. 

“I’ll pass.” She said simply before Nayeon dematerialized from the man’s grip. The man’s eyes flashed in confusion, and before he could see it coming, Jeongyeon’s hands were ablaze, and she was hurling a molten ball of heat toward his chest, so fast and so hot that it tore straight through his body, making him fall to the ground in a lifeless heap. 

“No!” Sounded a deafening scream from above, and Jeongyeon looked up, finally seeing the source of the thundering. 

A pixie flying above the battleground holding two people. She watched as a girl in grey robes jumped from the pixie, despite it being hundreds of feet in the air. Her palms faced down to materialize a slide of ice beneath her feet until she was on the ground and running through a crowd of clashing covens to collapse at the corpse of the man Jeongyeon had just silenced. 

Jeongyeon couldn’t explain why, but she was mesmerising. 

She’d never seen a woman with ice powers, and despite her instincts telling her to fry her too, she couldn’t help but watch as the girl sobbed over the body. 

“Father!” She sobbed, shoulders shaking as she mourned the immediate death of her kin. Jeongyeon felt the presence of her best friend behind her and looked over her shoulder to see her eyes filled with remorse.

Mina’s chest ached, and her body was trembling as she lay draped across the lifeless vessel of her father, and her eyes spilled icycle tears over the burning hole in his chest. 

Something begun to boil inside her stomach from the very core, making her entire body run so cold that her skin turned a haunting shade of blue. 

Tzuyu watched from where she stood helping one of her coven members up from the ground, distracted by the way her betrothed glowed in a way she’d never seen. 

The ice witch stopped crying and stood up before facing Jeongyeon. 

“You!” Came a voice unrecognizable. One that boomed so loud that it scared the pixie away. “You killed my father!” She growled, and Jeongyeon finally snapped out of it, finding all the strength left inside of her weak body to ignite a flame, one that coated her entire body in a bright sheen of orange. 

Mina’s body moved on its own, and before she knew it, she was lunging toward the fire witch, who stood still and waited for her new opponent to come to her. 

“Stop!” Nayeon screamed, suddenly between the two, just before they would clash. 

Mina stopped, her chest heaving, seething at her very core. 

Nayeon’s eyes looked panicked, and there was something in her demeaner that even Jeongyeon couldn’t read after being with her for twenty years. 

“It’s the prophecy.” Nayeon uttered, her face taking on a haunted look before blinking and looking between the two of them. “The prophecy!” And suddenly, she was smiling, and laughing. She looked over at Tzuyu, then between the fire and ice witches. 

Jeongyeon’s fire went out and she blinked out of her battle enduced trance before looking at her friend as though she was crazy. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“The prophecy!” Nayeon shouted again, “A fire witch and an ice witch!” She looked to the glowing blue figure and stepped closer to her, making her step back, her skin turning back to normal as she stepped back, fear and pain in her eyes. “You’re the first female ice witch to be born in thousands of years!” She stated, as though it were some revelation. “You’ve been prophesied to change the outcome of the end of the world!” She turned to meet the eyes of her best friend before stepping closer to her, looking at her strangely. “Jeong, you’re one of the sacred seven!” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Asked the fire witch, and Nayeon looked around frantically for a moment, noticing the battle still going on around them. She disappeared and reappeared between two opponents in battle. “Nayeon, move!” Jeongyeon screamed, ready to run and save her friend, but something odd happened. 

The fire witch ran right through Nayeon’s body to clash with her opponent, spilling his blood all over the soil. 

“The necromancer is here too!” She gasped, and disappeared, leaving Jeongyeon, Mina and Tzuyu standing in what seemed to be a fake battle field, staring at each other in confusion. 

Mina’s eyes were still spilling with tears, fists clenched with rage as she looked at the witch who slaughtered her father. 

When Nayeon reappeared, she did so with a short blonde woman in black, tattered robes on her arm, looking around in confusion. 

“The necromancer!” Nayeon laughed, and the girl looked up at Nayeon in wonder. 

“You can see me?” She asked, voice trembling, and the Messenger scoffed. 

“Of course I can, silly! I’m a messenger. I can see everything.” The enthusastic witch looked around to the ice and fire witches, “You can see her too, right?” She asked, and both girls nodded, making Nayeon squeal. “I knew it!” She gasped. “We have to find the remaining four!” 

“Remaining four what?” Asked Chaeyoung, and it was Tzuyu’s turn to speak up. 

“Of the sacred seven.” She uttered, recalling a vague story a Jeckle told her while she was visiting a forest in Yorio as a preteen. 

Nayeon looked to the tall witch and grinned giddily, “The remaining three, I guess.” She chuckled, making the nature witch look at her in confusion. 

“What? Me?” 

“There is no other reason for you to be able to see a necromancer.” Nayeon recalled, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Not unless you were dead, of course.” 

“Are you?” Asked Chaeyoung in a whisper, and Tzuyu seemed offended. 

“No!” 

“That settles it then!” Nayeon grinned. 

“Settles what?” 

“We’re going on an adventure!”


	3. I Like This Ability

“Sana?” Called Jihyo upon opening the door to the library, allowing her voice to echo around the room three times before parting her lips to call out again, only to be interrupted by a tap on her shoulder from behind. She turned around in a start and was met with a grinning blonde. “How do you do that?” She asked in confusion, knowing for a fact that Sana was human, and definitely unable to teleport. 

Sana grinned and pulled a bag of herbs out of her pocket. 

“Are those Poof Poppies?” Jihyo asked, trying not to laugh at the children’s toy, and Sana pouted. 

“Little tricks like these are the closest thing I’m ever gonna get to magic.” Complained the bookkeeper, and Jihyo smiled sadly. 

“I still don’t understand why you’d want to have abilities.” Jihyo sighed, “I’d much rather never have to worry about mundane things, like what color to paint the walls or how many radishes I’ll need to feed my family than what I worry about.” 

“Think of it as a ‘grass is greener’ situation.” Sana shrugged before taking a seat atop a table. “So, what did you need?” Sana asked, and Jihyo’s eyes lit up as though remembering the reason she came here in the first place. 

“Look what I learned how to do!” Jihyo exclaims before putting her hand, pointing it toward a shelf. Her eye twitched with concentration before, at last, a book nearby came flying out, across the lobby and hitting the wall across from it. 

Sana rose a brow in confusion, and Jihyo’s smile didn’t fade as she explained her deed enthusiastically. 

“I can move things now!” She laughed. 

“I thought you could always do that.” Sana admitted, making Jihyo’s shoulders sink. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Sana lowered herself from the library table and moved to grab the discarded book. “You slammed the doors shut last night after your father left.” She recalled, and Jihyo had to sit down to let her mind catch up. 

“I-I thought that was you.” She admitted, and Sana chuckled. 

“Nope. I was on the third story until I saw you close the doors. I thought you knew.” 

Jihyo frowned, “I thought I had come closer to unclocking my potential, but it turns out I already had that ability.” She pouted, causing Sana to scoff with the roll of her eyes. 

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be a genius, you’re pretty stupid.” 

“Excuse me?” Jihyo gaped, causing Sana to sigh exasperatedly. 

“Only you could feel jilted upon finding out you can move things with your mind.” She grumbled before sitting back down and setting the book in front of her. “You just found out that your mind is far more capable than you thought.” Sana rationalized, “If you can slam a heavy oak door with your mind in a fit of blind rage, imagine what you could do with practice and a determined mind. This is the next step to Psychological Dominion.” Sana had a soft, hopeful smile, and the more that Jihyo let the human’s words sink in, the more she realized she was right. 

“Okay… you’re right.” Jihyo finally determined with a sigh, maybe of relief, maybe of exasperation, or of impatience. 

She wasn’t sure. 

“So… what’s next?” She asked, giving Sana a moment to think of a proper next step. 

“What’s next is you tell us where we can find archives on the Lost Prophecy.” Spoke someone from behind Jihyo, and when the two met eyes with Nayeon, she giggled nervously. 

“Sorry… I just wanted to make an entrance.” She scratched her arm under the sleeve of her top, making a certain human grin bigger than she expected. 

“I’m Sana.” The blonde grinned, immediately standing up and leaving her newest companion in her seat before addressing the flock of witches who just entered. 

“Nayeon.” Grinned the gummy smiled woman, reaching a hand out to shake with the other, only for the girl’s smile to fade. Nayeon has shaken the hands of thousands of different types of witches and elves and trolls and vampires and pixies, but the embrace has never felt like this. “You’re…” For the first time in her life, Nayeon was at a loss for words. She tilted her head and tried to catch it in her eyes, her skin tone, her scent, anything, but she couldn’t figure out what she was. “What are you?” She finally asked, and Sana blushed, breaking their contact, much to Nayeon’s dismay. 

Nayeon couldn’t get enough of that feeling. It was refreshing. 

“I-I’m human.” She blushed, trying to ignore a grunt from one of the witches behind her. 

“Fascinating.” Nayeon gasped, walking around Sana, eying her up and down closely as though she were some sort of experiment to be examined. “I expected you to be ugly.” She admitted, and Sana gave her a look of confusion. 

“Thank you? I think…” 

“You’re welcome!” Nayeon shrugged with a smile before taking the time to think about it, “...I think.” 

“Listen,” Jeongyeon interrupted, stepping forward to address Jihyo. “Do you happen to have any books on this prophecy my friend keeps gawking about?” 

“There are hundreds of thousands of prophecies in my archives.” Sana finally snapped out of Nayeon’s intense gaze, and Jeongyeon had to hide the surprise on her face that the human knew more about the archives than the Quizmaster witch.

“Well this prophecy is about the Sacred Seven. The seven women who were destined to play a part in the end of the magical world.” 

Sana supposed that there was a reason the prophecy is called ‘The Lost Prophecy,’ given the fact that she’s never heard of such a prophecy, which would be absurd considering she grew up in the most knowledgable library on this celestial plane. 

“Wait…” Jihyo stood up and turned to meet Nayeon’s eyes. “My mom told me stories about something like that. She explained, “‘Seven women were destined to change the world.’” She recited, and Nayeon continued. 

“A woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders…” 

Tzuyu and Chaeyoung were listening in from the fourth story balcony of the collosal library, the shorter of the two looking along the spines of the books on magical botony as the taller leaned over the balcony to listen. 

“I hope the end of the world doesn’t mean fighting. I’m not much for fighting.” She admitted, expecting some sort of response from the blonde, but coming up with nothing. 

Chaeyoung enjoyed the silence as long as she could before Tzuyu spoke again. 

“Can I ask you something?” She asked, making the death witch sigh, giving the girl the go ahead. “That strange, enthusastic witch jumped in the middle of a fight, and when she didn’t get hurt at all, she knew you were around. Why was that? What did you have to do with her not getting hurt?” 

Chaeyoung has never had to explain it to anyone. 

To be honest, besides Sooyoung, Chaeyoung hasn’t had to talk to anyone at all. 

“Necromancy isn’t my only ability.” She relented, “In fact, it’s the least of my abilities. I hold dominion over life and death.” She explained, “I direct souls home when the soul leaves the body, and I protect souls from early departure.” 

“So in other words… Nayeon didn’t die because…” 

“It wasn’t her time.” Chaeyoung shrugged, grabbing a book on crystals and opening it on the table to look at while she waited for the others to gather their information. 

“What if you weren’t there?” Tzuyu asked, not quite catching the sound of Chaeyoung’s exasperated sigh. She threw her head back against the chair she was slumped in before deciding to answer because, as annoying as she was, Tzuyu’s curiosity was endearing, in a slightly irritating way. 

“If I wasn’t there for her soul to tether off of, it would’ve slipped into a state of floozy, forced to bounce around in pergatory for the rest of eternity.” She rolled over the explanation as though she’d given it a thousand times, but still, for some reason, Tzuyu didn’t catch her annoyance. 

“That sounds horrible.” Tzuyu uttered sorrowfully. 

“Nobody’s ever come back to tell me how it feels.” Chaeyoung said, finally happy to end the conversation and get back to her book about glorified rocks. 

“I just don’t know what goes after the list of seven.” Nayeon admitted to Jihyo as she sat across her with a quill and piece of paper, writing down everything the two had recited from memory while being spectated by Sana, Mina and Jeongyeon who sat at neighboring tables, all seperate from one another, Mina the furthest from the rest. 

Jihyo closed her eyes and racked her brain for a moment, recalling the times when she was young enough that her mother told her stories. She recalled the smell of her mother’s perfume, the taste of the warm goat’s milk she gave her every night, the feeling of her soft hands in hers as she looked at her with those warm green eyes. 

“‘When two opposing elements merge, and the dead can rise, fall and rise again… when the unexpected arises and the sun and moon can finally embrace again will the sands of time run thin.’” Jihyo muttered, and Nayeon cheered, happy that someone finally understood what she was talking about. 

“Two opposing elements.” Nayeon uttered pointedly, eyes moving between Jeongyeon and Mina, who hadn’t stopped glaring at each other since their run in this morning. “And the thing about death...of course it has to be Chaeyoung.” 

“Nay…” Jeongyeon sighed, “What even are we supposed to do when we find this so-called ‘Sacred Seven?’” 

Nayeon didn’t know. 

Of course she didn’t know.

“It’s obvious isn’t it?” Sana spoke up, capturing the attention of the other girls. “You stop the end of the world.” 

… 

“Today was the best day of my life.” Dahyun sighed, making her companion turn her head from where she was lying on the blanket to look at the girl beside her. 

They decided to take their coffe date on the road, to an arcade, then to a late lunch, then to feed the ducks, then here, to watch the sunset as they laid on a blanket in the middle of the grass in Central Park.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Smiled Yerim as she let her eyes drink in the sight of Dahyun’s porcelain skin being painted the sky’s blues and oranges and purples as they melted together as day fades to night for what felt like the billionth time in Yerim’s life. 

“Have you ever beein in love, Yeri?” Dahyun asked, opening her eyes and finally meeting them with her date. 

“More times than I can count.” Yerim hummed, and Dahyun let her lashes rest on her cheeks again before facing the sky, allowing the remnants of light to dance around in the darkness between her eyes and their hoods. 

She’s found herself in love with many things too. 

Sunset.

The ocean.

Bibimbap.

She understands exactly what Yerim means. 

“Though love is a lot simpler now than it was during my time.” She hummed, and Dahyun’s brows laced together, but she didn’t dare open her eyes. 

“You sound like you’re from the dark ages.” Dahyun teased, and Yerim hummed blissfully. 

“I’m a lot older than I look, Dahyunnie.” She sounded almost teasing back, and the shop owner couldn’t help but grin and humor her.

“Yeah? How much older?” She asked, causing Yerim to chuckle. 

“I don’t think you can count that high.” She teased again, making Dahyun let out a genuine, hearty laugh. 

“I guess I have a thing for older women.” The girl giggled, and Yerim sighed before turning her whole body to face Dahyun, who sensed it and did the same, finally opening her eyes, somehow meeting a more beautiful sight than the one she had behind her eyes. 

“You know, of all my years,” Yeri took Dahyun’s hand in hers, clutching it tightly, “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like you Dahyunnie.” She admitted, and the blonde felt her chest heaving at the closeness. Felt the intimacy. 

Felt herself melting. 

“Yerim, I’ve only known you a year, and somehow,” Dahyun smiled nervously, “I feel like I’ve known you all my life.” Her eyes hooded, and she felt herself leaning in, eyes flitting to the woman’s lips. 

“Maybe you’ve lived a lot longer than you remember.” Yerim smiled softly, and Dahyun took Yerim by the wrist, resting the woman’s palm on her own neck.

“I don’t think I’d ever be able to forget this feeling.” She whispered, her breath grazing Yerim’s lips. 

“Is this okay?” Yerim asked, lips ghosting over Dahyun’s, waiting for the moment she’d say yes. 

When she uttered that blessed word, their lips were already firm against one another, Yerim’s fingers twined in Dahyun’s blonde hair, pulling her closer as they moved in sync, a kiss searing, yet somehow so full of familiarity that Dahyun felt like she’d done it a thousand times over.

Yerim pulled away breathlessly, chest heaving and voice hoarse as she spoke to the girl in her arms. “Until we meet again, Dahyunnie.” She whispered, and when Dahyun opened her eyes in confusion to ask Yerim what she meant, the girl was gone. 

“Yeri?” Dahyun asked, looking around for any sign of her companion, but she didn’t see anybody. Not even a shadow. “Yerim!?” She shouted, standing to her feet to run and look for her, but that was the last thing she remembered before waking up her bed the next morning. 

… 

Dahyun’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked around her room to see if anything was out of place, but it wasn’t. 

The only thing different about her room now from when she left it the morning before was that the potted plants on shelves and hangers had grown twice the size overnight. “Yerim?” Dahyun shouted before slipping out from under her blankets and slipping her feet into her bunny slippers. She shuffled across the floor of her loft, rubbing her eyes and yawning as she made her way to the coffee machine. She breifly wonders if she just fell asleep while stargazing with Yerim, and the girl just drove her home and brought her to bed, rationalizing that it was the only normal reason behind how she went from having her dream girl confess her love to waking up in her bed immediately after.

She stretched and groaned as she opened the curtains to her third story flat, looking down at the bustling city below and smiling. 

She loved New York City. 

She climbed out on the fire escape and inhaled the early morning air, thanking Ganesha herself that she’s become immune to the urine smell by now. 

She closed her eyes and dropped her head back, remembering her dream, and how wonderful it was to actually think Yerim could feel so strongly for her after over a year of hoping she’d notice her in the way she liked.

She couldn’t help the giddy smile, or the way her fingers ghosted over her lips, remembering how real the dream had felt. 

But alas, it was just a dream. 

It was just a dream, and her coffee is ready. 

So, not quite wanting to get up yet, she simply opened her eyes, only to jump when she was met with someone else on the fire escape above her, looking down at her attentively. 

“C-can I help you?” Dahyun asked the strange girl, who just chuckled bitterly. 

“Oh, I’m beyond help.” She assured, making Dahyun decide it was time to go back inside. 

Maybe she had gotten too much sun, and heat stroke was messing with her. 

However, when she stepped inside, she was met with someone standing just inside the threshold, a big, goofy smile on her face as if she hadn’t just broken an entered. 

“Gah!” Dahyun exclaimed, jumping back and stumbling over the ledge of the window, only to be caught by yet another girl. 

“Be careful! If you die, nobody will be able to take care of the plants.” She exclaimed, making Dahyun scream again. 

“Do you have to be so dramatic?” The girl from the fire escape above her asked, bored as she jumped down onto Dahyun’s escape with her and the weird plant girl. The one with the black hair and smile pulled Dahyun in the window, making her stumble to the ground. 

“W-who are you all?” Asked Dahyun in terror as she tried to scoot back. 

“Friends of Yerim’s.” Spoke somebody from Dahyun’s kitchen, finally catching her attention. 

“W-what are you doing in my house?” She asked, trying to calm her pounding heart. 

“Excuse my friends,” Smiled a kind blonde woman who was holding Dahyun’s favorite coffe mug out to her as though to hand it to her. “They’re not… from around here.” She chuckled nervously as Dahyun took the coffee and smelled it suspiciously. “As a matter of fact, I’m not really from around here either.” She admitted. “My name is Sana.” She put out a hand for Dahyun to shake, but she simply eyed it with the same suspicion as the coffee. 

“Okay, Sana. What are you doing in my fucking hourse?” She inquired, and finally, the girl in the kitchen chimed in again. 

“Yerim… the girl you met. She’s one of us.” She admitted. 

“And… what are you exactly?” Asked Dahyun, voice still harsh. 

“Magical!” Grinned the enthusiastic one brightly, making the shop owner scoff.

“Is this some kind of sick joke Yerim is playing? Because if it i-” 

“It isn’t.” Called another girl from the bathroom, making Dahyun groan at the idea of six girls somehow breaking into her apartment. She pays an extra thousand dollars a month just so she doesn’t have to live in a neighborhood with frequent break-ins. “We’re witches.” She smiled, her voice small. 

“Most of us.” Said yet, another woman who came in from the window. 

“Jesus christ, how many more are there of you?!” Dahyun shouted. 

“Witches?” Asked Tzuyu, “There are millions of us. But in your dwelling, just seven.” She grinned a dimpled smile, as though proud of herself for her answer. 

“Oh, well if it’s just seven.” Dahyun rolled her eyes before standing up with the cup of coffee in hand. 

“Cute rabbit sandals.” Teased a taller woman with short, blonde hair, and Dahyun rolled her eyes. 

Who the hell calls them rabbit sandals?

Witches, apparently. 

“Okay, well I’m gonna go call the police.” Dahyun announced, and the only one who did anything to stop it was Sana. 

“No, Dahyun, please. We can prove it.” She offered, and Dahyun rose a brow, skeptical. 

“Alright,” The shop owner scoffed before dropping the cup of coffee from her hand, waiting for someone to stop it, but it just clattered to the carpet, soiling the white fuzz with brown liquid. 

It was silent for a moment before Nayeon spoke up, this time being the one to look at Dahyun like she was the weird one. 

“Were we supposed to catch that or something?” 

“Yes!” Dahyun groaned.

“Well, Jesus, Dahyun, we’re witches, not mind readers.” Nayeon countered, and Sana moved to speak up. 

“Well, technically-” Jihyo covered her mouth to stop her from making it any worse. 

“That’s it,” Dahyun sighed before rumaging around for her phone, “I’m calling the police.” She sighed, and Chaeyoung smirked from her place on Dahyun’s bed, holding the woman’s phone. 

“I was wondering what this was. You humans can’t keep your eyes off of them.” She held it upside down and poked it experimentally.

“Okay,” Jeongyeon sighed, “if someone shows you our power, will you believe us?” 

“That’s literally all I ask.” Dahyun groaned exasperatedly. 

Everyone silently looked around at one another before Jihyo spoke up. 

“I’m glad everyone agrees it should be Tzuyu.” 

“Dude, you have got to stop doing that.” Chaeyoung complained, and Dahyun rose a brow.

“Unless you want Jeongyeon to light your apartment on fire, or Chae to give you a cold, it should be Tzuyu.” Jihyo explained. 

“Mina could do it.” Sana offered. 

“I-I can’t.” She blushed, and Dahyun spoke up again. 

“Why not?” 

“I uh…” Mina sputtered, and Jihyo spoke up again. 

“Perfomance anxiety.” 

“I don’t think that means what you think that means.” Dahyun countered, and Tzuyu rolled her eyes before finally stepping forward and rolling the sleeves of her robes up. She held her palms out in front of Chaeyoung and the girl moved to take them. 

“Don’t do that.” Tzuyu barked, making Dahyun jump and retract her hands into herself. 

Suddenly, from her hands sprouted a beautiful crown of daisies, laced together in braids that looked hand woven. 

“Wow…” Dahyun gasped, and Tzuyu smiled before placing the crown atop the shop owner’s head. She turned to look into a mirror hanging on the wall and smiled at herself. “I like this ability.” 

“Me too.” Tzuyu smiled kindly, and Dahyun looked around, realizing the power that must be surrounding her in this moment. 

“So, where exactly is Yerim if she sent you all here?” Dahyun asked, looking around, expecting the woman to pop out of nowhere with her own special power. 

“That’s the thing…” Sana spoke up, “We don’t know.” 

… 

“So let me get this straight…” Dahyun grumbled from her place in a kitchen chair across from her bed, where Jeongyeon, Nayeon, Tzuyu and Mina all sat respectively. Chaeyoung was seated -if you could call it that- pirched on the back of the chair, boots planted in the seat of the wooden chair to keep her up. Sana and Jihyo both sat on the floor. “Magic is real.” 

“Mhm.” Sana spoke up.

“You guys all met like, today, aside from you two.” She said, pointing between Jeongyeon and Nayeon, who nodded. “And you’re all a part of some weird prophecy that brought you guys here.” 

“Yup.” Jihyo sighed, and Dahyun’s eyes fell on Chaeyoung. 

“And you’re like, God of the dead!?” She asked, causing the shortest woman to shrug. 

“Who am I to argue with that?” 

“Wait, folklore suggests that necromancers can’t be seen by the living. Does that mean-”

“No, you’re not dead.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, “Being on a human plain allows me to appear as human to everyone, instead of the dead or the special exceptions.” 

“See?” Jeongyeon sighed, “Nobody’s dead.” 

“Not nobody.” Mina hissed, and the reality of the situation suddenly hit the girls on the bed. Tzuyu took Mina’s icy hand, but the witch pushed it away and scooted a few inches away before pulling her knees to her chest. 

Dahyun did the smart thing and decided to ignore the exchange. 

“Wait, so what does that have to do with Yerim?” 

“We were actually hoping you could answer that.” Sana admitted, “It was strange, we were all together, arguing in the library, and then suddenly, we were standing in a park with nothing but an unconcious girl and her memories of someone who can only be described as an Oracle.” 

“A-an Oracle?” Dahyun gasped, “I made out with an Oracle?” 

“Apparently.” Chaeyoung shrugged before sighing. “I have a few theories on where she is though.” She admitted, “I don’t feel her on this plain anymore, but I feel her, which means she’s alive. Though it makes sense she would be, considering the fact that Oracles are not easy to kill.” 

“There are things worse than death.” Mina muttered, and Tzuyu gave her a look that was ignored. 

She went from shy and giggly to broody and emotionless in a matter of one day, and that was, to say the least, concerning. 

“I agree.” Chaeyoung sighed. “But the good news is that Dahyun’s girlfriend isn’t totally lost yet. I just need to do some searching. But I’ll need to find a few things, and I have no idea where to find ritual items in this realm. 

“Oh, we’re in luck! I own a shop down the road.” Dahyun offered, and Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung chimed in, laughing at such a notion. 

“You’re just a human,” Jeongyeon shook her head in amusement. “I admire the enthusiasm though.”

Dahyun seemed offended, and Sana shrugged. 

“Her kind is notoriously prejudiced.” Sana profiled, “Men hating puritan amazonian warriors.” 

“Well, I don’t blame her on the man hating part.” Dahyun giggled, as well as everyone in the room, other than Mina, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. 

“Okay, well,” Sana stood up and wiped her hands off on her cloak, “I say we go to Dahyun’s shop. It’s the best we have right now, and even if it doesn’t work, maybe it’ll strike some ideas.” She suggested, and Nayeon was the first to jump up, digging her elbows and knees into Jeongyeon in an attempt to get up. 

“I agree, let’s go!” She said enthusiastically, running toward the door, but Dahyun took her by the wrist before she could leave, catching Nayeon’s attention deeper than she had expected. 

“Wait, wait. First, we have to get you out of those cult robes.”


	4. "Someone's In Trouble!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> be sure to add kudos, comment, and follow me on twitter @NAYTOZAKI! i'd love to know what you think, and don't hesitate to share this with your friends because i'm really passionate about this idea ❤

"I read about these metal dragons, but I've never seen one up close." Jihyo whispered in awe as she caressed the leather seat of the van they rode in on their way to Dahyun's shop. 

"Excuse my friends…" The shop owner chuckled at the Uber driver from the front seat. "they're a little out of it, if you know what I mean." She winked with a smile, hoping he'd think she was implying drugs. "They're harmless though, promise." 

"Harmless." Jeongyeon rolled her eyes from her seat, "I've seen battle, I've slain hun-" 

"She spends too much time playing Skyrim." Dahyun interrupted, and was thankful when Nayeon changed the subject with her whining. 

"Chaeyoung, put your leg down, there's not enough room back here for you to have it up like that." She complained, pushing the shortest witch over, but the girl simply opened her legs wider. 

"I am going to enjoy every second I get to wear these… pants." Chaeyoung grinned nonchalantly, looking up at Tzuyu who was at her side, wearing a skirt that only went to her knees, since Dahyun didn't have anything longer for her to wear. "They're so liberating." 

Once the car stopped, the eight women all piled out, and Dahyun apologized before giving the man a tip and seeing him off. Dahyun took a look at the girls who all wore her clothes in various odd ways and sighed. 

“There is no way a group of seven socially awkward supernatural beings wearing clothes that don’t fit them is going to stay under cover.” She groaned before looking after the Uber, hands on her hips. “Lucky for us though, this is New York City, so I’m sure he’s seen worse.” 

“Can we go inside?” Asked Chaeyoung in a whining tone, pulling the large, flashy sunhat over her eyes to block out the sun. 

Once Dahyun unlocked the door, everyone went loose around the store, looking around and getting into things at their will. 

“So, uh…” Jihyo trailed as Dahyun sat at the counter to observe the witches. “What did you know about Yeri?” 

“Not much.” Dahyun admitted. “I mean, she talked about how she’s been in love many times, and that she was a lot older than she looked, which, now that I understand what she meant, she wasn’t kidding.” She chuckled, eyes widening as she thought about how old Yerim must’ve actually been. “I mostly just know what she’s like.” Dahyun’s eyes cast away and looked off into the distance, thinking about the wonder of the enigmatic woman she so grew near. 

“A-and what was she like?” Jihyo asked, her eyes showing something other than indifference for the first time since Dahyun had met her two hours ago. 

The only problem is that Dahyun didn’t know how to read her expression. 

“Oh, well...” Dahyun smiled, hiding a blush, “She’s… perfect. Kind, understanding, passionate.” She sighed as though trying to let her brain catch up with the racing of her heart. “God, she’s so smart, the smartest person I’ve ever met. It makes sense now though, since she’s lived lifetimes long enough to become so smart. She…” She fidgeted with her fingers softly, “She has strong opinions, but she never speeks badly about anyone, or anything. She goes into every situation with an open mind, and somehow, knows exactly what to say, and exactly what to do. She knows how to make me feel like I’ve known her her whole life.” 

“She sounds lovely.” Jihyo smiled softly, and the younger woman grinned. 

“Like I said… she’s perfect.” 

Chaeyoung was poking around the back room of the shop, one that she assumed was some sort of storage room, filled with boxes and books all over the walls, neatly stacked and labelled. There was a desk against the far wall, and atop it was a contraption with a small blade on it, a tool Dahyun used to open boxes. She picked it up and assessed it for a moment before slipping it in the pocket of the leather jacket she wore. In the back corner, there was a door with stairs that lead to the roof. She was met with a large cherry tree sprouting from a planter, coating the concrete in pink petals. 

This was the first time Chaeyoung had seen plant life like this in decades. It thrived, and she could feel the soul of the tree, thriving, happily living in a world where it will not be tampered with, will not be destroyed. 

She looked to her left and saw a small plastic building taking over the majority of the rooftop. She pulled back the plastic flap and looked around, feeling the buzzing of life inside her very core as her eyes fell upon the foliage all around her. 

She saw a patch of sage in a planter on the ground and reached down to pick a handful, only to be stopped by a voice. 

“You should thank the land first.” Whispered Tzuyu from behind, making Chaeyoung groan before turning around to look at the witch as though she were crazy. 

“It’s a box of dirt.” She rationalized, and the tall witch shrugged before making her way inside to stand beside the necromancer. 

“It’s still derived from nature, Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu sighed before kneeling in front of the box, looking up at the blonde as though asking her to join. The short witch rolled her eyes before relenting, and the nature witch smiled before closing her eyes and waving her hands over the planter. 

“On this day, under the light of the scalding sun, we ask for a sacrifice, and we want to express gratitude to the earth for supplying us with this great offering. We thank you, mother, for this gift.” 

Chaeyoung opened her eyes when the prayer ended, and as though she summoned it herself, the herbs uprooted themselves and floated to her open palm, ready to be used. 

Tzuyu gave Chaeyoung a soft, dimpled smile upon seeing the shock and wonder on her face. “Look.” She whispered, Allowing Chaeyoung enough time to turn her head and watch the patch of dirt sprout a small seedling again. “I can hear the plants and animals in this realm call for help.” She admitted, her smile falling as she waved her hand over the seedling, making it grow back to full length. “I think the problem is that these humans aren’t showing it the love and attention they show themselves.” She turned to pick up the wilted petal of a white rose and laid it on her palm tenderly. “They’re neglecting mother earth, and she is getting sick, but all they have to do is pay her mind, and make her feel whole again.” Before Chaeyoung’s eyes, the white petal spread into a rose in full bloom. “Help her feel as beautiful and peaceful as she once was.” 

She looked Chaeyoung in the eyes as she lifted a strand of blonde hair to tuck the flower underneath. Chaeyoung’s eyes cast to the left of Tzuyu’s head to see her reflection in the plastic of the greenhouse wall.

For once she looked… alive. 

The truth is that Chaeyoung knew exactly what Tzuyu was talking about. The plants and animals crying for help. 

Chaeyoung felt souls crying out for her. Lost on this wretched plane, some bouncing around in search for closure, some not even departed from its vessel, but pained and filled with sorry, begging to be released, desperate for peace. 

It made her chest heavy, and when they first arrived, Chaeyoung felt dizzy from all the cries for help that flooded her bloodstream like poison coursing through her veins. 

Strangely, this has been the only sense of remedy she’s experienced. 

Though, she couldn’t let Tzuyu know that. 

“Now that you’re done talking to dirt…” Chae cleared her throat and stepped around Tzuyu in their proximity to leave, “I’m gonna go find the rest of the items I need.” 

“You should take this.” Sana suggested as she handed a pearl colored crystal to Nayeon, who gave her a strange look. “I read that Cerrusite is meant to keep travelers grounded while on the move. It gives them a sense of home, and guides them there during the most dire of situations.” 

Nayeon would be lying if she said she believed in all this crystals and herbs ordeal, but if she believed in one thing, it was Sana. 

Something about her was different from anyone she had ever come across in her life, and it gave her a good feeling. A feeling she couldn’t quite pinpoint, but a good one nonetheless. So, of course she took it. 

“Only because it’s cute.” She lied, waving her hand over it as it laid in Sana’s hand and shrinking it, conjuring a silver chain and socket to turn it into a necklace. Sana’s eyes widened when she saw what had happened, her chest fluttering with pure excitement as Nayeon turned around and pulled her hair into her hand to lift out of the way. “Hook it on me, will you?” She asked, and Sana swallowed the lump of nerves in her throat before lifting it over her head and around her neck. 

“Humans are fascinating creatures.” Nayeon admitted as Sana fumbled with the hook. 

“Yeah? Why is that?” She asked, looking at the girl over her shoulder before finally hooking the necklace and pulling the woman’s hair back over her neck for her. 

“Their connection to things.” She admitted, “I understand people, animals, traditions, but humans just have so many things around them. Like that shop down the path, the one that sells pawns. I don’t even know what a pawn is, but it looks like a bunch of old, useless junk that nobody needs.” Her lip turned up in distaste, causing Sana to chuckle. 

“I think humans think that their connection to this world is solidified through the items they own, rather than the connections they make to other people.” She theorized as she played with a candle between her fingers, making Nayeon hum. 

“I guess witches and humans aren’t very different in that regard.” 

“What do you mean?” Asked the human, to which the messenger shrugged. 

“A witch’s biggest priority, even from birth, has always been power.” She explained, “It’s like they think that their connection to this world is solidified in the amount of power they manifested and showed in their lifetime, rather than the people they influenced with the little power they were born with.” 

“Well,” Sana scoffed, “I’d have been happy being born with any power at all.” 

“You’re funny.” Nayeon chuckled as she walked to the next aisle, only for the human to follow her, looking through a wall of dream catchers and wind chimes to see what little she could of the witch’s heavenly visage. She turned to look at something before turning back around, the sight playing in slow motion before Sana’s eyes. “I’ve spent many nights looking at the stars and wishing that I could’ve been born human.” 

To say she was uncomfortable was a heavy understatement for Jeongyeon. 

She felt a lot of things. 

Anger. 

Bitterness. 

Confusion.

Annoyance. 

Guilt. 

Mostly Guilt. 

Though needless to say, all these emotions were very uncomfortable to feel one at a time, but here she was, experiencing them all at once, along with the ice daggers being stared through her skull from every point of every room she shared air with Mina inside of. 

“What do you want me to say?” Jeongyeon sighed in exasperation as she finally spoke to the girl for the first time since she killed Mina’s father.

“I don’t think there’s a proper apology for killing one’s father.” The ice witch answered after a beat of broody silence. 

“It’s not like I set out to murder your father. I didn’t even know who you were, or who he was.” She tried, and the brown haired girl rolled her eyes. “If I didn’t kill him, I would be dead. We were enemies-” 

“Which is exactly what we are, fire witch.” Mina hissed before putting down a deck of tarot cards to meet Jeongyeon’s eyes. “So don’t be surprised when we find out you’re the cause of this so-called apocalypse and I slit your throat whilst you sleep.” 

And with that, she pushed past a shocked Jeongyeon in favor of being anywhere else in that moment. 

“Do you have somewhere private I can go to perform this ritual?” Chaeyoung asked awkwardly of the shop owner, her arms filled with all the items she needed for her task. 

“This is new york city.” Dahyun chuckled, “There’s no such thing as privacy. I’m sure Nayeon could take you somewhere though, if you ask nicely.” 

Chaeyoung sighed before turning around and seeking out the messenger for help. 

Once she got out her request, she had to close her eyes to brace herself for Nayeon’s excitement. 

“You mean I get to watch you astral project?!” The girl was nearly vibrating with excitement, which made Chaeyoung roll her eyes. 

“If you can take me somewhere to do this, then you can use one of those phones to record it, for all I care.” 

“Sweet! Where do you want me to take you?” Inquired the smiley witch. 

“Don’t messenger witches specialize in inter-dimensional travel?” Chaeyoung asked, slightly hopeful that she may be able to see her beloved Jinsoul in person again. 

“Yeah,” Nayeon sighed dejectedly, “but I can’t access the dimension outside of this one for some reason. I tried when we got here, but for some reason, we’re more stuck here than we thought.” 

Chaeyoung sighed, because, of course fate would not be so kind to her. 

“I’m sure you’ve been here enough times to know the perfect place to perform a blood ritual.” The blonde’s voice seemed bored, impatient, as though she didn’t want to be here. 

She didn’t, and that wasn’t a secret. But that didn’t mean that the reason behind such a fact was obvious. In fact, Nayeon almost felt desperate to find out. 

“Alright, yeah.” Nayeon nodded before reaching forward and placing a hand on Chaeyoung’s shoulder, and before the shorter woman could open her eyes from mid blink, she could feel the air around her change. Her heart was less tense and her mind was less crowded with the cries of lost souls. 

Finally, she opened her eyes and noticed it was dark. They were standing in the middle of an old road, deserted and devoid of souls. 

“Where are we?” Chaeyoung asked as she looked around, the only structure in sight being an old, broken down shack in the midst of a field of dead, dry grass. 

“South America.” Nayeon said calmly, and Chaeyoung nodded, not knowing what that was or where that was, but deciding that it was good enough. 

They both walked through the field to the shack, and the first thing that Chaeyoung noticed when she passed the threshold was the way the boards creaked beneath her boots. 

She sighed before dropping salt in a circle around the dusty, dirt covered ground, then pulling a match out to light the sage, cleansing the area of bad energy before setting it down on an ash tray in the middle of the circle. 

Nayeon watched silently, arms crossed as she leaned against a pillar in the corner of the building as Chaeyoung did chants in a language she’s never heard before.

“I call on the skies, the earth, the sun and the stars…” She uttered, moving her hands in motions to begin the ritual, “I ask that you align and bring to me my beloved. I ask that you bend your will. That you comb the plains for her and send me to stand before them, to reunite two lovers under the cloak of night and meld two broken souls as one.” Chaeyoung pulled a box cutter from her jacket and held it to her throat. “Take my blood as a peace offering: a sacrifice that I offer, willingly.” 

And before Nayeon could stop her, Chaeyoung swept the blade across her corrodid artery, watching as her blood spilled in the middle of the circle before falling limp. 

“No!” Nayeon screamed at the top of her lungs as she watched the woman fall into the pool of her own blood. Nayeon ran to the circle to tend to the witch, but before she could cross the salt line, it became engulfed in flames, trapping Chaeyoung’s lifeless body inside. 

… 

“Chaeng?” Asked a familiar voice from behind Chaeyoung as she opened her eyes to see her old dwelling. She looked around the dark confines for the voice and sighed in relief before running to take her lover in her arms. 

“Jinsoul,” She sighed blissfully as she held her close, eyes closed out of fear that if she opened them, she’d be back in that dingy shack with that annoying messenger witch. “I couldn’t feel you, I was afraid I’d lost you.” 

“What are you doing here?” Asked her lover as they finally pulled away, “And what’s this?” she asked of the rose tucked behind her lover’s ear, only to go ignored when the necromancer sighed, holding Jinsouls hands in hers between them. 

“I’m looking for an oracle named Kim Yerim,” Chaeyoung explained, “I don’t know which dimension she’s in, and you know blood rituals are to tricky for me to perform more than once at a time, so I was hoping I could enlist your help finding her.” She asked, her eyes seemingly pleading with the woman she held so dear. 

“Chae… I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” She sighed, and the shorter woman pulled Jinsoul’s hands against her chest, willing her lover closer. 

“I know you’re afraid, my love. But you’ve been here so long, it isn’t fair for me to keep you here, waiting for me to come back. I don’t want you to wait another ninety years.” Her lip quivered, and Jinsoul’s chest tightened at the sight. 

“I told you before you left,” The taller woman recalled before taking their hands and pressing her lips to the back of Chaeyoung’s hands. “I’d wait nine thousand years if it meant I could hold you again.” 

Chaeyoung’s throat tightened, her stiff body too tired to fight Jinsoul on this again, after having gone in circles about this for nearly two centuries. 

“Well, it’s a good thing nothing will happen to you, isn’t it?” She smiled sadly, “You don’t have to talk to anyone, you don’t have to be seen. I just need you to comb the realms for her whereabouts. If you don’t, there’s a possibility I may never return, and you waiting would be in vain.” 

Jinsouls beautiful eyes filled with worry, and her fingers began to tremble at the idea of leaving the safety of their home. 

“Hey,” Chaeyoung took Jinsoul’s cheeks in her hands and stroked them with her thumbs softy in reassurance. “You know where to find me if it becomes too much. I believe in you, my love.” She promised, pressing her forehead against her lovers and closing her eyes upon feeling her soul drain back into her vessel. “I love you.” 

Jinsoul’s eyes spilled, and she dropped a kiss to Chaeyoung’s lips one last time before whimpering her goodbye.

“And I, you. Forever.” 

… 

When Chaeyoung woke up, her ears were assaulted by the roaring of death’s flame engulfing her. She stood up and brushed off her pants, looking to the floor to ensure that all her blood has been sacrificed to the deities before waving her arms to kill the flame, just in time for it to be witnessed by Nayeon and Joengyeon, who had just arrived and seen the display. 

“I thought you were dead!” Nayeon screeched angrily, crossing the salt circle to slap the necromancer on the arm. 

“I was.” Chaeyoung shrugged before passing the messenger and walking outside to get some fresh air, only for the other two witches to follow. “Astral projecting is less dangerous for me, but only because a sacrifice of my blood binds me to the astral plain, making it harder for me to become trapped. The only way to satisfy the celestials is to spill all my blood and hand over my immortal soul temporarily.”

“So, does that mean you found her?” Jeongyeon spoke up as the three stood in the middle of the road, ready for Nayeon to take them back to the shop. 

Once they were standing in the middle of Dahyun’s shop, Chaeyoung moved out of Nayeon’s grasp to walk away. 

“I’m working on it.” She said simply before sitting down in the corner of the shop behind the desk, dizzy from her trip. 

“What do you mean you’re ‘working on it?’” Asked Jeongyeon, seemingly outraged by the situation. 

“What I mean, is that inter-dimensional tracking is really hard, even for an immortal elder, so I did what I could, and all we can really do is wait.” She assured, and Nayeon took her turn to speak up. 

“So, what? You used this as an excuse to see your boyfriend?” Nayeon asked, her voice taking an air of rage that only Jeongyeon has ever heard. “‘Reunite two lovers under the cloak of night and meld two broken souls as one?’” She quoted, making Chaeyoung’s breath hitch. 

“Y-you understood me?” She asked, breaking out of her hard, cold shell for the first time since they all met. 

“Now it sounds like you’re insulting me.” Nayeon rolled her eyes, “The most basic early ability a messenger witch is bestowed with is the ability to understand any language across any species of creature with free will.” She explained, as though it were the most common knowledge in the world, and Chaeyoung sighed as Jihyo handed her a glass of water. 

“I may not be able to cross dimensions, but my lover... “ Chaeyoung took a drink before finishing her statement, “her species allows her to cross many dimensions on any plain without consequence.” 

“And what species is that?” Sana asked, causing Chaeyoung to sneer. 

“Definitely not human.” She spat, causing the bookkeeper to wince at the low blow. The necromancer rolled her eyes before looking back to Nayeon, who was looking at her expectantly, arms crossed, eyebrows scrunched together. “Listen, I just need you to trust that I did the best I could, and if Jinsoul doesn’t find Yerim, nobody will.” 

“Why should we believe you now?” Asked Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. 

“As easy as it is for me to come back to life, I don’t like it.” She admitted, as though it were obvious, “It hurts, and I just slit my own throat to help find your oracle. If dying for your stupid cause isn’t enough to prove you can trust me, then nothing is.” She sighed before standing up, only to stumble over into Tzuyu’s arms, too lightheaded to keep her own balance. 

Before anyone could lunge to Chaeyoung’s aid, Tzuyu put her hand up to stop them. “I’ve got this.” She assured before helping the shortest witch to the back room. “Sit here.” She commanded lightly, leading her to the chair near the desk on the far wall before moving to clear off a few boxes of books, taking a shall to lay out over them, and her jean jacket to bundle up as a makeshift pillow. After making up a bed, she lead the disoriented woman to it and instructed her to lie down. 

She pulled the chair toward the boxes and sat by her side to keep an eye on her new companion closely. 

“You don’t have to babysit me, Tzuyu. I’m not going anywhere.” Chaeyoung grumbled from where she laid, curled up into herself as she looked up at the nature witch. 

“I’m more worried about you fainting than going anywhere.” The girl smiled, swiping her palm across Chaeyoung’s sweat and soot coated forehead, combing her fingers through her dirty hair, toying with the petals of the rose for a moment, noting the specks of red that coated it from Chaeyoung’s ritual. “Thank you for doing this for us.” Tzuyu smiled, waving her hand over the flower, allowing the crimson to spread over the entire thing, changing it from a white rose to a red one. 

“It wasn’t for you.” Chaeyoung tried to hiss, but it came out more like a whine, making Tzuyu giggle. 

“Thank you anyway.” She admitted, “I don’t really know how we got here, or why we’re here, but I’m glad you’re here.” 

Chaeyoung would be lying if she said Tzuyu’s words didn’t affect her. 

Something about being cared for: about being looked after and wanted was something has had very little of in her very long life. 

“Thank you.” She exhaled finally, to which the taller woman just smiled. 

“Don’t thank m-” 

She was cut off by the word catching in her throat, making her choke. Her hands came to her neck, fingers clawing at the flesh of her neck as though trying to pull something away from it. 

“Tzuyu?” Chaeyoung asked, sitting up in concern, but the skin around the nature witch’s eyes began to turn pitch black from the eyebrows in. “Tzuyu?!” Chaeyoung shouted, rising to her feet as the girl fell to the ground, taking the chair with her as she squirmed around breathlessly. “Help! Something’s wrong!” She screamed, and suddenly, the girl’s body started to convulse on the ground, eyes rolling to the back of her head. 

“Move everything so she doesn’t hurt herself!” Sana shouted as everyone rushed in, and Jihyo waved her hands, making the chair, as well as several boxes fly back into the wall. 

“What did you do to her?!” Jeongyeon screamed as she fell to the knees to check on the woman whose siezing body was turning purple. 

“Nothing, she just started choking, I-” It was Chaeyoung’s turn to cut herself off with a gasp when she felt the jolt of Tzuyu’s soul leaving her body. 

Tzuyu’s vessel stopped it’s quaking at last, and instead of being relieved like everyone else, Chaeyoung dropped to her knees beside Jeongyeon, taking Tzuyu’s neck between her hands. 

“What the hell are you doing!?” Jeongyeon screamed, standing up to try and pull the smallest witch away, but she squirmed out of her grasp to continue her ministrations. 

The fire witch summoned flames into her palms, and the sound alone was enough of a warning for Chaeyoung to know exactly what she had planned on doing if Chaeyoung didn’t stop, but she couldn’t. 

Just as everyone lunged forward to pry Chaeyoung away, the shortest witch screamed at the top of her lungs, a deafening howl whose echos threw the others back, sending them to the ground, into walls, boxes, whatever was behind them. 

She straddled Tzuyu’s corpse and squeezed her hands around her throat. Jeongyeon and Nayeon watched from the ground, winded as Chaeyoung’s pupils turned black, leaking over the whites of her eyes until the two were staring into pools of endless darkness. Her hair fell out, sending the flower inside falling away to the ground somewhere. Her skin seemed to wrinkle, as though decaying until it disappeared from her body and there before them was a haunting sight. Her bones cracked as her form changed, spine sticking up like some sort of four legged animal, her flesh so dark that the bones that stuck out from beneath almost shone through, making her look translucent. Her jaw hung low, mouth open wide, obsidian eyes like crystal balls shining over and showing onlookers of the times of Tzuyu’s life, tending to the sick and talking to the creatures of the forest. A choked sound came from all around the room, pounding against the drums of ears as she sang her death song, tugging the soul from within her to give it back, not willing to lose another person she holds close.

Not again.

Chaeyoung’s muscles are tearing from the inside out, her eyes feel like anchors at the back of her cracking skull. Her bones are grinding against each other and her stomach burning a hold through her as she opened her trembling lips to press the kiss of death to Tzuyu’s lips, pouring her life force back into her through her mouth. The fire witch watched in awe as a puff of smoke, so bright it almost glowed, emerged from Chaeyoung’s lips, into Tzuyu’s as they hovered fractions of a centimetre away from one another. 

Once the smoke ran out, so did Chaeyoung’s energy, and the girl fell to the ground beside Tzuyu’s vessel, unconcious. 

The silence in the room was deafening, and everyone watched the two bodies closely, as though waiting for something to happen. 

Almost two minutes passed in complete silence before Jeongyeon crawled to the bodies, checking Chaeyoung’s pulse. She looked up, a haunted glint in her eyes, and shook her head before moving to Tzuyu’s body to check the pulse on her purple, swollen neck, but before she could make contact with her flesh, something miraculous happened. 

Simultaneously, the two dead women took in deep breaths of air, so deep it echoed around the room eerily as the two popped up, Chaeyoung’s nude body returning to its human form before Tzuyu could finish her coughing fit. 

She held her neck and gasped to bring air back into her empty lungs, but before the color could return to her face completely, she was gasping out a frantic warning. 

“Someone’s in trouble!”


	5. "I'm Like You."

(Earlier)

“You won’t get far, thief!” Screamed the booming voice of the man whose house Momo had just ran from as she hid behind a building, chest heaving as she peaked over the edge of the building to the man who held a handgun in his clammy, meaty hands, eyes combing the area for any sight of the small Japanese girl who made her way to his bed and tried to make off with a few expensive things, among them being a gold watch, an Army Vallor Medal and a shiny wedding ring. 

She looked down at her leg and hissed at the feeling of the bullet inside her muscle moving as she flexed it to see how severe it was. 

Too severe for her to be able to run, at the very least. 

“Come out, and nobody gets hurt!” He rationalized, his voice getting closer and closer the longer she hid behind the neighbor’s house. 

“It’s too late for that now, isn’t it?” She yelled back breathily, trying to hide the pain in her voice as she applied pressure to the wound in her leg. This kind of pain and stress made her long for the days when people ran after thieves with swords and axes, because at least she could regenerate a severed hand. A tiny lightning bolt of lead tearing through the tissue of her calf muscle on the other hand, was a lot harder to recover from. 

Plus, you don’t need a hand to run fast. 

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t blow your head off right now, snake!” He growled, just a few feet away now, and Momo knew it was now or never. 

She hunched over and began to shift, biting her knuckle to stop herself from screaming at the pain of the bullet moving inside her leg. 

By the time the man was finally able to peek around the side of the house, the only thing that greeted him was a pool of blood, the remnants of the shirt she took from his closet and put over her naked body, and a common alley cat with a shiny coat of black fur meowing up at him, wide eyed and curious. 

The cat walked between the man’s legs and purred, rubbing up against his hairy flesh and wrapping its tail around its ankle. 

The man scanned the area, grunting as he turned away, but not before a glint of light hit something shiny against the sun, catching his eye. There, in the pool of blood on the concrete laid a tiny lead bullet. 

As he bent down to grab the bullet from the pool of blood, the cat limped forward to brush up against his hand, but he slapped it away, making the cat let out a pained cry before making a choking sound. It hacked, coughing up something that, again, caught the man’s eye. 

“My ring…” He muttered to himself before assessing the cat and noticing it’s back leg matted with blood. He picked it up by the scruff, making it hiss and growl before the wounded leg began to mutate, growing before his eyes, black fur fading into tan skin covered in drying blood. He gasped and dropped the thing, as well as his gun, watching as its head and hands changed, claws stretching to fingers, the sounds of hissing changed to screams, which almost covered the haunting sound of bones breaking back into place. 

And there she was, lying on the ground, winded and coated in sweat and blood, tears falling from her eyes as she tried to regain her breath. “What are you?!” He screamed before dropping to his knees and wrapping his hands around her neck before she could regain her strength, causing the woman to thrash against him, clawing at big his hands as he restricted her airways and watched her bulging eyes slowly drain of life, rolling to the back of her head to finally be at rest.

Once he was satisfied with her death, he smiled a toothy grin before standing up and turning to walk back to his house, wedding ring in hand. 

He closed the door behind him and scratched his bare stomach before walking to grab his phone to call someone who would help him clean up the mess. 

He leaned over the kitchen sink and peeked outside at the body through the curtains as he waited for the person on the other end of the line to pick up. 

“Hey, Bruce, it’s Stevens. I need your help with a uh… project.” He trailed, tucking the phone between his shoulder and chin before turning the faucet on to wash his hands. “Yeah, it’s a little messy.” He chuckled as he turned the water off and grabbed a dish towel to dry his hands, looking out the window again, only to see the body was gone. 

He dropped his phone and walked back to the front door, opening it to see where the body went. He looked both ways and didn’t see anything. Not even a trace of blood. He turned around to get a weapon from the kitchen, but as soon as he stepped back inside, he was met with a grooling sight. 

Blood red eyes and an unhinged jaw with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth stared at him, a smirk on her crimson lips as she looked up at him, striking the man with a terror laced expression. One his loved ones would see when they stumbled upon the body later. 

… 

“Okay, I found a map of the area from the feed store down the road.” Sana explained in a panicked tone, opening it and spreading it across the counter for Tzuyu to look at. The nature witch sat on a stool weakly as Nayeon held her wrist, casting her palm over the map over different regions so she could find where the creature in danger was. 

They all watched in silence as Tzuyu’s hand cast over the map, rejoicing when a whole burned through it under the woman’s palm. 

“Okay, I’m gonna go.” Nayeon said quickly, gathering the map together to bring with her. 

“I’m going with you.” Tzuyu insisted weakly, moving to stand up, only to stumble to the ground. 

“You can’t even stand.” Jihyo scoffed, “Jeongyeon and I will go with her.” She insisted finally, and the fire witch immediately stepped up as Sana and Dahyun helped Tzuyu to the makeshift bed where Chaeyoung sat, having made room for the tall witch. 

The three disappeared, leaving Chaeyoung and Tzuyu with the two humans, and Mina, who was sitting in the corner of the shop area while the humans gathered things to help Chaeyoung and Tzuyu feel better. 

“You saved me.” Tzuyu whispered, eyes cast forward as she tried to process what had happened. “I saw my life flash before my eyes, and you saved me.” 

“Technically,” Chaeyoung corrected, rolling her head against the wall to look at the taller woman, “I was the one who saw your life flash before my eyes, but I guess that works.” She sighed, “You shouldn’t try to walk too much, and you should drink water. Dying takes a lot out of me, I could only imagine how you feel right now.” 

“I…” Tzuyu finally turned to look at Chaeyoung, “I died?” 

“My best guess is that the creature in danger was the one who was supposed to die, but because you have such a deep connection with the magical creatures, its life force clinged to yours and since you were closest to death, you lost the battle.” She explained, and the room went silent for a moment before Tzuyu smiled and kissed Chaeyoung’s cheek. 

“Thank you.” 

… 

“The blood is here,” Jeongyeon pointed out to Nayeon as they stood over the pool of blood, “but where’s the body?” She asked, looking around the suburban neighborhood, eyes widening when she saw Jihyo opening the door of a house across the street. “What are you doing!?” She hissed, and Nayeon took her hand before orbing them into the house. 

“Oh my God!” Nayeon screeched when she saw the horrid sight of a dead man lying on the ground, eyes wide with terror, a hole in his chest where his heart should be, intestines spilling over his bare stomach. 

“Shh,” Jihyo hushed as she peaked through the rooms, following the sounds of the creature’s thoughts to the last room in the back of the large house. “Hello?” Jihyo asked in a hushed voice, looking around the room until she saw a head of jet black hair sticking out from the other side of the plush king-sized mattress in the middle of the room. “I’m Jihyo.” She offered, and was met with a pair of sapphire red eyes staring into her soul, teeth bare and covered in blood, entrails dripping from them as she seethed. Instead of jumping away or charging at her like Momo had expected, the human smiled kindly. “Hello, little fox.” She hummed softly, stepping into the room and closing the door before dropping to her knees to be eye level with the timid creature. “What’s your name?” She asked, and Momo didn’t answer, she just blinked her beetie eyes at the witch, who smiled even softer. “Momo is a pretty name.” She offered, and something flashed, making Momo’s eyes and mouth return to normal. 

“H-how do you know my name?” She asked, voice small and scared, and the Quizmaster witch summoned her over with a finger. 

“I’m like you.” She offered once Momo was kneeling in front of her, mouth and hands covered in the man’s blood. “I can read minds.” She offered, and Momo’s eyes flashed red in warning, but Jihyo held her hands up in surrender, but Momo didn’t hear her breathing or heart rate change. “I won’t invade your thoughts again without your permission. Okay?” She asked, and hesitantly, Momo nodded. 

“I didn’t want to kill him.” She admitted, sitting on her behind and holding her knees, resting her chin between them. “But he tried to kill me, so I had to do something.” 

“It’s okay.” Jihyo smiled, eyes falling to the small gash in the girl’s exposed calf. “You have to heal somehow.” She rationalized before standing up and holding out her hand to the creature, who eyed the hand suspiciously. “I want to get you cleaned up. I have friends who can help keep you safe.” She offered, and Momo nodded before taking her hand and standing up, her leg still sore from her escapades. Jihyo held her arm out for Momo to brace herself on as they walked to the bathroom to wash all the blood off her hands, face and bare chest. 

Once they were done cleaning Momo up, Jihyo pulled a small piece of fabric from her pocket before muttering an incantation to make it grow to the size of a blanket. She pulled it over Momo’s shoulders to cover her up before guiding her out the door to the two women who overheard a lot of the conversation from the other side of the door. 

“Momo, these are my friends, Nayeon and Jeongyeon. They’re gonna get us to safety, okay?” Jihyo asked, and the creature nodded shyly. 

… 

“So, you’re human too?” Dahyun asked Sana as they sat at the curb outside of the shop, watching as the city died down, the lights all turning on and shops all closing for the day. 

“Yep.” Sana sighed sadly, and Dahyun hummed. 

“How did you end up in the magical realm?" She asked in confusion as she munched on a bag of pretzels.

Sana looked down at her feet, trying not to focus on the heavy feeling in her chest at her memories. "My dads say they brought me there." She admitted, "Apparently they found me while they were walking around a park in Osaka, Japan. They heard crying on the other side of the park, and there I was, lying, bundled up in a blanket on the top of the trash overflowing on a park waste bin. I was raised to know all I could about both worlds, practicing human traditions while spending most of my time immersed in books of magic and wonder. Books that weren’t some fairy-tale. History books that started with ‘Once Upon A Time’ and autobiographies ended with ‘and they lived happily ever after.’” 

Dahyun frowned at the idea of being thrown away like that, and suddenly, her view of her life changed. 

"I was adopted." Dahyun admitted, so to show Sana she wasn't alone. "It's not the same, I mean, my parents died in a car crash on their way back to the hotel from the store when we were vacationing in California." She frowned, "I was seven, so I have memories of them, which I guess I'm lucky for." She shrugged, "But I remember wishing I hadn't remembered, because maybe it wouldn't have hurt so bad being bounced around from home to home, y'know?" She asked, and Sana nodded, even though she didn't know. She would've loved to meet her biological parents. 

"I bounced around until I was fifteen, and this really nice foster mother named Gloria took me in. She taught me everything I know about witchcraft." She smiled in reminiscence of all the times they spent together. "She told me stories about how, in her culture, there are these medicine women called 'Curanderas' who made potions and medicines to help their people get better before modern medicine. Some of these Curanderas also did rituals, like meditating and prayer and- now that I know magic is real, I'm assuming some of them were witched. But back then, men accused every Curandera of being witches, and cast them out. Forced them all to stop their practice, and eventually, it began to die. Only a few hundreds of people do it now a days." She explained, before sighing, "I opened this store in her honor after she passed last year. But it's failing, slowly but surely, and I can feel myself losing hope that anyone really cares about witchcraft beyond Hollywood's portrayal of it." She fidgeted with her fingers dejectedly, and the Japanese girl placed her hand over Dahyun's softly, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Gloria sounds like a lovely woman. And for what it's worth, I believe humans are capable of magical things, just as much as witches." She offered, making Dahyun return that smile. 

"Guys, we're back with a new friend." Nayeon said suddenly from the door of the shop, cutting into the moment between the humans.

"Let's go inside." The shop owner suggested as she stood up, allowing Sana to follow. 

"You should really think about getting a cot in here or something, Dahyun." Jeongyeon grunted from behind a box she carried to make room for the new injured face. 

"Uh… who's this?" Asked the owner, and Jihyo spoke up from beside the scared looking woman. 

"This is Momo. She's the creature Tzuyu and Chaeyoung saved." The Quizmaster witch explained, gesturing to the two women who sat beside each other on the makeshift bed, asleep. Chaeyoung had her head on Tzuyu's shoulder and the taller girl and the necromancer's hand clutched in hers. 

"I put up a sound barrier spell." Mina piped up from her place. "They deserve to sleep after what they went through." 

"Agreed." Sana sighed before looking up at Jeongyeon, who was eyeing them strangely. "Don't tell me you still don't trust her." The human grumbled, and the fire witch rolled her eyes. 

"The only person in this room I trust is Nayeon." She rolled her eyes, and for the first time since Momo exited the bedroom, she spoke. 

"Trust is a foolish complex." She spat, causing Nayeon to raise an eyebrow. 

"Don't you trust Jihyo?" She reasoned, and Momo winced at the idea. 

"No." She said simply, "I am using her to get what I need." 

Everyone looked at Jihyo expectantly, but she just shrugged. 

"I can respect that." She admitted as though rationalizing Momo's statement. "Sometimes people are tools needed to achieve a goal."

"That doesn't sound like any way to live." Dahyun frowned sadly. 

"It's better than trusting someone and getting hurt." Jihyo shrugged, and Momo hissed. 

"You promised you wouldn't read my mind again." 

"I didn't. I just understand what it's like." 

The two looked at each other for a moment, and Momo could see something in Jihyo's eyes. Something she's never seen before, not in thousands of years of meeting and assessing humans. 

Sincerity. 

"Not to break up this weird staring contest," Sana interrupted, "But who is she?" 

"She's a nine tailed fox." Jihyo explained, making Sana's eyes light up. 

"Really?!" She gasped, "No way! That's so cool!" She laughed, making Momo's brows crease in confusion. 

"What is cool about my kind?" She asked, and Sana gawked at such a question. 

"Are you kidding? You run like, super fast! And you shape shift at will! Plus, men are like, terrified of you!" she sighed dreamily, leaning over the table and looking at the woman in the same way. "You have everything I've ever wanted." 

Momo rolled her eyes at the child's words, and shrugged them off as ignorance, given the fact that Momo would never wish her abilities on her worst enemy. 

Not when they came with the pain she's known her entire life. 

"Anyway…" Mina trailed, "where are we supposed to sleep for the night?" 

"I'm glad you asked!" Dahyun grinned before swiveling her head to look at Nayeon sweetly. 

"Oh god, what now?" The messenger asked begrudgingly, and Dahyun wiggled her eyebrows. 

"I need you to break in somewhere."

… 

"You people just leave rooms like this unoccupied?" Chaeyoung asked from where she sat on the couch of the Presidential suite of the nicest hotel in New York City. 

"It's expensive to rent, so people don't really come up here. Especially in the middle of the week in September." Dahyun shrugged as she watched Mina utter incantations to silence the room from the inside. 

Jihyo was on the other side of the room reciting a spell to deter any staff from entering the room, making it virtually off limits. 

"I don't like how she stares at me." Tzuyu whispered guiltily to Jeongyeon, who was currently playing with buttons on the microwave. 

"Aren't you supposed to be an expert on animals or something?" The witch asked, bored by the conversation. 

"Well, yeah but I died a few hours ago, so forgive me if I feel a little stand-offish about being around someone whose soul beat mine out in a battle of wills." She said nervously, peeking through the corner of her eye at Momo, who was curled up in the corner with a pillow, and Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. 

"Maybe try making friends with her instead of letting your brain tell you you're better off distancing yourself." She suggested, and it was Tzuyu's turn to roll her eyes. 

"You should take your own advice with Mina." She countered before storming off to go sit next to Chaeyoung. 

"Who's sleeping where then?" Asked Mina once she finished her spell, and Momo was the first to speak up. 

"I'm sleeping with Jihyo." She demanded, and the quizmaster witch seemed unbothered by it. 

"No objections?" Sana pouted, hoping to be the one to sleep in the same room as the Quizmaster. 

"Nope." Jihyo shrugged, "It's like having a friend, but cuter and less talkative." 

"Ouch." Sana huffed, and Chaeyoung spoke up. 

"I don't wanna sleep near the human." 

"Ouch!" Sana exclaimed louder, and Mina sighed. 

"I guess I'll take one for the team."

"Okay, now it feels like I'm being gained up on." Pouted the human, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"I'd love to sleep in the same room as Sana." Nayeon grinned as she sauntered from the window to the kitchen area to grab an apple off the counter and take a bite. 

"What?!" Jeongyeon exclaimed in distaste, whipping around to complain at her friend. "We always sleep in the same bed!" 

"Exactly." Nayeon shrugged, "We can go one night without it. Besides, I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable sleeping around Sana when I simply don't have an issue with it." She rationalized before walking past everyone, into one of the two rooms in the suit. "I hope you like to cuddle." She winked to Sana, who blushed as Nayeon closed the door behind her. 

"I'd rather have Mina rooming with me anyway." Tzuyu piped from the couch, earning strange looks from everyone in the room. "What?" 

"Are you guys like…" Dahyun asked, twirling her fingers around each other before holding two fingers up on both hands and putting them together to imitate a recognizable intimate act.

"No." Mina said simply, and Tzuyu corrected her. 

"She's my fiancé." 

Tzuyu noticed Chaeyoung's eyes flash with something just before Sana reacted. 

"I haven't seen you guys say a word to each other all day." The human pointed out, and Mina frowned, all too aware of that. 

"It was arranged." Mina explained, "My father wanted to marry me off to unite our covens. It would've been officiated yesterday if I didn't have to go watch him get killed." She narrowed her eyes at Jeongyeon, whose eyes were already filled with remorse. 

"I guess that leaves Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung out here with Momo and I then." Jihyo shrugged, and the two broody witches looked at each other pointedly. 

"I should probably see if Nayeon will take me home." Dahyun smiled, and Sana spoke up again. 

"You can stay with us if you want." She offered, and Dahyun giggled.

"Human rules don't apply to you guys, but they definitely apply to me. I'll be at the shop tomorrow though, so you guys can head over whenever you feel ready." She assured, saying her goodbyes before walking to the room Nayeon was in. 

"Whatever." Chaeyoung rolled her eyes before getting up and going out to the balcony to look out at the city below, bustling with life and glowing wondrously. 

She closed her eyes and let the cold autumn air kiss her cheeks, tuning out the souls calling for her in favor of remembering her girlfriend's face. 

Her smile, the way her entire face quirked up with it. The way her plump lips always felt soft against her own, they way her skin always felt cool to the touch, sending a shock wave of chills through her body even after living for so many centuries has made her feel numb. 

Her voice. Her laugh. The way her voice warmed her cold icy heart and made Chaeyoung feel more alive than she ever felt before her. The way she sang to her while she played with her hair. The way she said her name. 

And her nickname. 

And her other nickname. 

How she said 'I love you.' 

"Chaeng." She heard, and couldn't help but smile blissfully, willing herself to hear it again. "Chaeyoung." 

Yes. 

That voice.

"Chaeyoung-ah!" She shouted, and the necromancer gasped, opening her eyes to see the girl she so missed. 

"Jinsoul!" She sighed before wrapping her arms around her lover, who pulled away and took her face in her hands. 

"What happened? I felt your heart stop." She asked in concern, and Chaeyoung's eyes closed.

"I had to save a friend from her untimely demise." She explained, "I'm okay though, I promise." 

"I missed you so much." Jinsoul sighed, pulling her girlfriend in to kiss her passionately, and Chaeyoung giggled. 

"It's only been a few hours." She reminded, and Jinsoul's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 

"It's been three months for me." She stated, and Chaeyoung stepped back, overwhelmed by the implications of that. 

“Does that mean that this dimension and our dimension run at different time rates?” She asked, and her girlfriend shook her head and shrugged her shoulders before opening her arms to invite Chaeyoung back in, seemingly not content with being away from her beloved for even a second when it could be spent touching her.

“I think time moves at differet rates in every realm, because there were times where a day went by and felt like a month, and a month went by in a minute.” She explained, and Chaeyoung laid her head on the woman’s chest softly, eyes open as she tried to calm her racing mind. 

“Can’t we just go back home and go back to sleep?” Chaeyoung muttered, to which Jinsoul ran her fingers through her hair. 

“You can feel it too then.” She sighed, and Chaeyoung nodded aganst her beloved, hands running along the small of her back, revelling in the feeling of being against her for as long as time allows her. “I think this has gone on long enough, Chaeyoung.” She sighed, and the necromancer looked up, eyes laced with hurt. 

“W-what?” Her voice cracked, and Jinsoul’s face fell as she took Chaeyoung’s cheeks between her palms.

“Chaeng, I know that for you, it was today, but for me it was months ago. Since then, I’ve learned, and I’ve grown, and I realized that we’re both being selfish.” A tear ghosted down over Jinsoul’s cheek, and Chaeyoung shook her head frantically. 

“Don’t tell me you’re leaving, Jinsoul, please, I-” 

“I’m not.” She promised, shutting her girlfriend up. “I’m not, but I can’t let you hold onto this any longer, or else I think it might ruin us both in the end.”

“Please,” Chaeyoung whimpered, “please, I went so long without you, I-I can’t have you leave again.” 

“I made you a promise, Chaeng.” She smiled, wiping tears from Chaeyoung’s cheeks with her tears. “I’m not going anywhere right now, but know that eventually, I will have to let go, and I want you to be ready for that. I’ve already been here so much longer than I was supposed to, and we’ve been selfish for centuries.” She reminded, stroking her lover’s cheek as she listened to Jinsoul’s reasoning as if she hadn’t played the same words over and over in her head every day for the last hundred years. “I have to go now. I’ve seen traces of Yerim, but in order to keep up, I have to keep moving.” She said regretfully, and Chaeyoung let out a sad sob. 

“Okay,” She sniffled, “I love you, Jinsoul.” 

“And I, you, Chaeyoung.” She smiled down at her love before connecting their lips, Chaeyoung holding her breath to savor it. “Until we meet again.” 

And before Chaeyoung could pull away or open her eyes, all that was left of Jinsoul’s lips were the remnants. 

The remnants, and the sob that broke free from Chaeyoung’s weak chest.

Chaeyoung swallowed it, wiped her tears, and turned to go back inside, only to run into Tzuyu, who looked like a deer in headlights. 

“What did you see?” She hissed, and Tzuyu held her hands up in the air in surrender. 

“Nothing.” She uttered, the truth in her eyes painful for Chaeyoung to witness before storming inside. 

… 

“I uh…” Nayeon trailed nervously as she moved the pillows around the bed to get comfortable on her side. “I overheard you talking to Dahyun about your parents.” She admitted nerously to the girl who was sitting in bed reading a book from Dahyuns shop when Nayeon had popped back in from orbing the little human home. 

“Oh,” She blushed, “how much of it?” 

“All of it, I think.” Naeyon turned to face Sana, who was propped against the bed frame, looking down at her. “How your parents found you in a park bin.” Her head rested in her hand, which was being held up by her elbow. 

“Yeah, well, I was lucky someone found me.” Sana assured as she closed her book and set it on the table beside the queen sized bed. 

“Do you ever wonder where your real parents are now?” Nayeon asked, making Sana grimace. 

“My dads are my real parents.” She corrected, “They raised me, they fed me, they made me who I am. I would never ask for anyone better.” 

“I’m sorry.” The witch frowned dejectedly, and Sana laid down and turned to her side so her head was against her pillow, compelling Nayeon to do the same, putting them at eye level with one another. 

“I do think about them though.” Sana revealed frowned, “How different my life would be if I grew up with human parents in Japan. If I’d have friends. A boyfriend or girlfriend.” A small smile crept up to her lips, “If I’d still be so obsessed with books if I was able to go out and see the real world instead.” 

“What stopped you from going out to see the real world before?” Nayeon asked in confusion. Surely she wasn’t some shut in. Surely she could freely go wherever she wanted. 

“When you’re the only creature in the world who doesn’t have powers to defend yourself, you’re kinda stuck where it’s safe.” She smiled sadly. “I used to be okay with experiencing the world from my bedroom, but once you’ve read so many books, you start wanting to make your own story.” 

Nayeon’s eyes were scanning Sana’s features in silence for a moment while the human begged Nayeon to make any indication that she understood, before growing embarrassed and laughing it off. 

“I don’t expect you to get it.” She chuckled before moving to turn off the light. When she laid back down, she was aware of her proximity with Nayeon, only due to the feeling of her breath against her chin. 

Once her eyes adjusted, she noticed the witch’s eyes flash to her lips, then her hand move through the dark to take Sana’s in hers. 

There it was again. 

That feeling coursed through Nayeon’s veins like electricity, a current spilling from the surface of her skin, inward to the very core of her being. It made the hairs on her neck stand on end, it made her breath fall fall short and her chest heave as though she’d run a marathon. 

Her lips trembled as she dug through her brain for something to say.

Anything to say. 

Until, finally, she found something among the abyss of racing thoughts. 

“Let me take you somewhere. Help you make your own story for once.”


	6. "It's Okay to be Hurting."

Sana seemed speechless at Nayeon’s words, staring at the woman as though she feared speaking or moving would ruin everything and render her alone again. 

“Or not…” The witch trailed, slightly self conscious at putting herself out there, but Sana sat up. 

“Would you seriously do that for me?” She asked, a smile on her face beyond Nayeon’s vision in the dark. 

“I-I mean, if you want that.” Nayeon sputtered, something out of character for the usually confident young witch. 

“I’d love that!” Sana gasped, turning to turn the light on to look at Nayeon excitedly, her body vibrating with excitement, but the loss of physical contact made Nayeon frown. 

“Okay, where do you want to go?” Nayeon asked, sitting up and turning to slip her shoes on. “Japan?” 

“No.” Sana turned her nose up before putting her own shoes on. “Anywhere but there.” 

“Alright.” Nayeon sighed, standing up and rounding the bed to Sana’s side and holding a hand out for the girl to take. 

“Where are we going?” The human asked, causing the witch to shrug. 

“My favorite place in this realm.” She grinned, and something about the look in her eyes made it impossible for Sana not to find herself reaching out. 

Before she knew it, the two were standing in the middle of an open field on top of a hill, which overlooked a skyline that took Sana’s breath away. 

“Wow,” she whispered in awe as she stepped forward and looked out at the horizon. Nayeon noted Sana’s excitement from afar, a small smile on her lips as she looked on as the human’s big, wonderstruck smile and wide eyes fell open, her shoulders slumped, palms out as though she was taking in the sun, welcoming it into her soul in a way that could only be done at the top of a hill filled with pink and purple lupins that kissed the backs of her calves as the wind blew them against her flesh. 

Nayeon’s eyes couldn’t help but drink in the way the orange glow of the sun washed over her inhumanly beautiful visage, casting a shadow over every other work of art or beautiful woman Nayeon had ever seen in all the places she’s been, in all the faces she’s set eyes on. She noted the way her skin looked so natural and warm under the rays kissing the surface of her skin that, somehow, always glowed just a little bit brighter than the sun. 

And the glint in her warm honey brown orbs that, somehow, sparkled brighter than every star that blanketed the night sky. 

“It’s beautiful.” Sana gasped finally, astonished at the way the mountains somehow disappeared in favor of the crystal clear ocean in the foreground, as still as the night sky as the sun untucked itself from its hiding place and prepared itself to shine on the people for another day. 

"It really is." Nayeon smiled blissfully, wanting to close her eyes to take everything in through the rest of her senses, but not willing to pass up on a second where she isn't looking at the woman in her midst.

Sana exhaled as though she'd just accomplished something amazing before looking over her shoulder at the woman staring at her before running through the field to take Nayeon's hand and head toward the water. 

Nayeon thought about closing her eyes and orbing them to the beach. She thought about how, if she were with Jeongyeon, or anyone else across any dimension, she would do just that. 

But this is Sana. 

A wonderful, beautiful woman who was used to running rather than orbing. 

A human. 

A human who was holding her hand. 

So no, Nayeon didn't orb. 

Because Nayeon would give anything to spend just one more second with the rush of lightning running through her veins. 

Because Nayeon would give up everything she knew to hold Sana's hand for just a little bit longer. 

Once the two got down to the water, Sana kicked her shoes off and, much to Nayeon's dismay, released her grasp on the woman's hand to run along the wet patch where the water kisses the sand, hands out at her sides like a little witch trying to take flight. 

Her hair flew around as the ocean breeze combed through it and demanded Nayeon's eyes in a way Sana always does. 

"What do you usually do when you come here?" Asked the human, shaking the messenger out of her stupor. 

Nayeon smiled softly to herself before leaning down to sit right where the water and the shore met, allowing the icy water to kiss the backs of her thighs. Sana rose her brow, wondering how, when there was all the sun, all this water, all this space, Nayeon would wish just to sit there. 

Until she finally mirrored Nayeon’s position and took the time to take in the scenery like Nayeon did.

“Wow.” Sana sighed wondrously, pulling her knees to her chest and leaning her head on the witch’s shoulder as they both looked out upon the horizon of dawn casting a soft orange glow over everything the light touched, including Nayeon’s warm, sun kissed skin. “This is incredible.” Sana whispered, closing her eyes to listen to the gulls cawing in the distance.

“Everyone deserves to have a favorite place.” Admitted the witch as she turned her head to scan her eyes over the human who laid against her, not able to get enough of the unscathed features of her peaceful visage. Her gaze etched and traced every centimeter, commiting the smallest pore, the slightest change in tone, every last teeny, tiny strand of peach fuzz to her long term memory, in case this was the last time she was ever able to see Sana like this. 

She made sure to store everything. 

The feeling of Sana’s chest as it rose and fell peacefully against her arm, to the way the sun melded with the ocean, to the way Nayeon’s heartbeat went a little faster every time she let it sink in that she was sitting next to, quite possibly, the most devine creature to ever meet eyes with this god forsaken planet, and across any and every demension she has, and will ever be blessed or cursed to lay eyes upon in her long, long lifetime to come. 

“I haven’t been to enough places to have a favorite.” Sana admitted, and Nayeon smiled softly before finally laying her head against the one that rested on her shoulder.

“I guess that just means I’ll have to take you somewhere else one day.” She assured, and Sana looked up into Nayeon’s eyes, a warm, kind look that made the messenger’s chest ache in the most beautiful and unfamiliar way. 

“I think any place you take me will be my new favorite.” She whispered, her breath shaky as her eyes fell to Nayeon’s lips with a lightning fast speed that made the witch think she imagined it.

“And why is that?” Nayeon asked shakily, her own eyes daring their own pace downward, until she felt Sana’s breath against her chin. 

“Because I’ve never felt so special with someone before.” She whispered, and the witch couldn’t help herself when she found her hand coming up to move Sana’s hair out of her face. 

“I’ve never seen someone so special before.” She admitted, hand cradling Sana s though she was precious and priceless. 

“Will you kiss me?” Sana asked, her eyes slowly falling closed, and the taller woman’s breath hitched, her chest heaving and heart beating around her ears as she broke through the last inch of space, reaping the rewards of such a move in the form of a set of lungs devoid of air, a stomach frenzied with butterflies, and a surge of electricity igniting throughout every ounce of blood, coursing through her veins and making her fingertips tremble as their lips melded together, to pieces of a puzzle coming together in a way almost unfathomable. 

… 

“Jihyo,” The Quizmaster witch snapped her head to find the source of the voice that, somehow, was painfully familiar and completely distant. She looked through the darkness to find something, anything that would make it easier for her to figure out where she was, and why she was there. “Jihyo!” Called the voice again, and Jihyo’s chest twisted in discomfort as her instincts told her just to close her eyes. 

Behind her lids, like a projector, lit up a face, but only in remnants. Like the broken parts of her memory from so long ago could only string together the most important things Jihyo could make out. 

A thin, soft, warm smile. The memory of which was vivid. The laugh she let out, warm and heartfelt, something Jihyo could never forget, including the little crescent dimples that lined her lips in an inviting way. A way that brushed away any doubt Jihyo had about this woman being anything but the pure embodiment of good. 

“Jihyo, my love, you shouldn’t be in here.” Smiled that smile as the woman who belonged to it leaned down and reached her arms up to pick up Jihyo, reminding her of what it felt like to be young again, something she wasn’t allowed to feel growing up. Her chest was filled with a pleasant swell that reminded Jihyo of one person and only one. 

“Mom?” Jihyo asked wondrously, looking around and turning her head in hopes to catch up to where she was, but through the darkness shone a face she so hated, only much younger. 

“I’m sorry, honey.” He smiled, leaning in to kiss his wife softly, “I know you’re busy with your research.” 

“I’m never too busy for my baby.” She offered before pulling Jihyo’s eyes away from her father to sit at the desk of her office, which Jihyo recognized as the old library she met Sana in. 

She looked around, but it was as though the only light was where her mother smiled, and the rest was a shadow of darkness that covered Jihyo in fear, but it was the least she could recongnize before she was thrown to the ground by a force slamming into her body and knocking the air out of her lungs, making her painfully aware that she wasn’t dreaming like she thought. 

Suddenly, she wasn’t in control of her body anymore, and she was stuck looking through her eyes as her limbs moved of their own accord. The vessel that caried her eyes struggled to stand to her feet, stumbling as though too disoriented to walk in a straight line. Balled fists came up to rub fuzzy eyes and once they were away, Jihyo’s eyes were met with a river, her nostrils filled with the smells of nature, from fresh, damp grass and trees to the rancid smell of something dead in the distance, and her ears were painfully aware of the water rushing down the stream in the distance, the sound of footsteps pounding against her skull like the mighty swing of a hammer poppy hacking away at the very casing of her brain. 

Jihyo’s body looked around frantically before running in the opposite direction of the footsteps, weaving in and out of trees with the agility of a quadriped and the reflexes of a trained fighter. Suddenly, her spine began to tingle, then sting, then rip through her entire being like lightning tearing her skin and muscles until a mighty crack resounded in her poor, aching skull, making her want to let out a blood curdling wail, but the vessel wouldn’t allow it. 

Though, suddenly, she was close to the ground, and below her was a pair of stark white paws, finally allowing Jihyo to figure out exactly whose body she was observing. 

“You won’t get far, witch!” Called one man, from behind, while others screamed in languages she didn’t understand but recognized from their Latin conjugation as something along the lines of French or Spanish. 

The body she was inside of quickly took a harsh right before slipping through the lip of a small cave before turning toward the opening, watching in terrified silence as the men passed by, much to her relief. Her bones cracked agonzingly again, back into place so she was standing to full height and staring down at fleshy hands, which were shaking and covered in mud from running through the forest. 

Jihyo heard crying, and the vessel she resided in fell to her bare knees in the back of the cage, uncovering the small bundle and revealing an infant who seemed unable to sit up or feed itself, and apparently too young even to know not to cry when being pursued, because cry it did. 

Jihyo found herself holding it and hushing it desperately, eyes leaking and body trembling in fear as the sounds came back near. 

“I hear something!” Called the man from the distance, something that this species was able to hear with its enhanced hearing. 

The hands that belonged to Jihyo set the wailing baby on the ground and let out pained sobs before picking up a large, heavy rock. 

Jihyo wanted nothing more than to close her eyes in this moment. To leave, to die, to be swallowed whole before having to experience this, but still, she coudln’t help her arms’ (harsh, white-knuckled grip on the rock) thrust upward, or the way they rushed back downward, directly at the crying child. 

“Wake up!” Shouted Chaeyoung, taking Jihyo out of her heated memory just before she was forced to witness such a thing.

“Oh my God,” Jihyo gasped as she sat up, chest heaving, forehead laced with sweat and hands trembling from the stress of her dream. 

“You were screaming.” Chaeyoung deadpanned, eyes glazed over with boredom as she jumped down from the coffee table and handed her a bottle of water. 

“Did I say anything?” Jihyo asked breathily before taking the water greatfully and downing it. 

“Nope.” The necromancer shrugged as she sat back down in her recliner, kicking her feet up and crossing them before speaking up again. “But I know what you were dreaming about.” 

“What?” Jihyo asked, trying to turn in her place on the couch, suddenly becoming aware of the weight on her feet. She pulled the covers off of her legs and saw the subject of her dream, curled into a ball like a puppy, right on top of her feet, letting out a soft purring noise, despite the fact that she was in human form. “H-how do you know?” She stuttered, painfully aware of the past of this poor woman. 

Chaeyoung scoffed, “I think you people all forget that I’m a death witch. Everything that deals with death, or destruction…” Chaeyoung sighed, painfully aware of the reality of such a statement. “I can feel it all.” 

“That sounds awful.” Jihyo frowned, and the shorter witch shrugged. 

“It is what it is. I guess my existence is important enough to be in a prophecy.” 

It was silent for a moment, the two just lingering in an awkward bout of dissatisfied quietude that seemed to eat away at the little comfort they felt. 

“I know this is probably a less than ideal situation to be in,” Jihyo sighed, “And I am sorry that your only semblance of normalcy seems to be your lover, and I am even more sorry that you have to be away from her while trapped here.” She knew what it was like being shrouded in misfortune, better than anyone else, other than, maybe the girl who treated her legs like a pillow.   
“I haven’t left her side in three hundred years.” Chaeyoung admitted, dropping her head back against the back of the chair and looking up at the high rise ceiling. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I feel as though I’m losing the bond we had for so long, and I’ve only gone one night without sleeping by her side.” Or sleeping at all. 

“I’m sorry.” Jihyo frowned, “I wish I could sympathize, but the only person I’ve felt anything close to love for died when I was a small child.” 

“And who was that?” Chaeyoung asked, raising a brow upon lifting her head again.

“My mother.” 

… 

“Can’t sleep?” Tzuyu asked, turning around in the bed to face Mina, who’s been tossing and turning for the past three hours. 

“Losing your father does that to you.” Mina sighed, eyes fixed on the ceiling, head resting on the pillow beneath her head that was far too cushy in comparison to the single Jeckleskin blanket she was accustomed to sleeping with. 

“Yeah, well…” Tzuyu sighed, “I died a few hours ago so... I get it.” She assured, making the ice witch turn her head to look her betrothed in the eyes. 

“Are you okay?” It may have been a stupid question, and Mina immediately regretted it, but something about the concern in her eyes made Tzuyu smile. 

“I am, yeah.” She assured, “What about you?” 

It was the first time anyone asked her how she felt, not just about her father’s death, but in her entire life, and that fact made Mina’s lip tremble. 

“No.” She whimpered, feeling her angry resolve crumble into a million pieces. “I don’t think I have ever been okay.” 

Her broken voice made Tzuyu’s face soften, and she scooted closer to her fiance, opening her arms and pulling the poor, fragile girl into her body. 

“It’s okay to be hurting, Mina.” Tzuyu whispered as Mina sobbed into her chest, soaking Dahyun’s top with her tears. The taller girl ran her fingers through soft locks of brown hair as the girl’s shoulders shook against her. “It’s okay to feel lost, it’s okay to break sometimes, as long as someone is there to help stitch the cracks back together.” 

Her voice was warm, and soft, and it engulfed Mina in a feeling she has never felt, in all her years of life, not around anyone. 

That feeling was comfort. 

That feeling was, for a lack of a better word… 

Warmth. 

And warmth was all she never knew she needed. 

… 

The next morning, when Sana and Nayeon left their shared room, they walked out to see six pairs of eyes on them. 

“What?” Asked Nayeon in confusion, and Jihyo was the first to speak up. 

“I already told them you left last night.” She admitted, making Sana groan. 

“You know, you have got to stop reading our minds, Jihyo, it’s really invasive, and now everyone knows we kissed, which is really-” 

“You kissed the human?” Jeongyeon asked of her best friend from her place on the counter of the kitchen area, and now gazes got more prying. 

“I didn’t read your mind,” Jihyo fought back an amused grin, “Momo heard you guys talking about leaving, and she woke up when she heard you come back.” 

Momo was sitting at the table with an orange split open in her hands, looking over it at everyone with wide eyes as though she had done something wrong. 

“It’s nice to know you have a type though, Im.” Chaeyoung smirked as she brushed past her to make her way to the bathroom. “I guess you must have dibs on the other human.” She finished before closing the door, making Nayeon roll her eyes. 

“I’m not strictly into humans,” Nayeon insisted, “Sana is just…” She trailed, cheeks flushing when she met the human’s eyes. “She’s different.” She shrugged, unsure of what she was trying to convince other people, but she knew she wasn’t ready to explain what she feels when she looks at that beautiful young human.

“Anyway,” Jeongyeon trailed awkwardly, “has anybody had an epiphany over night? I really need to head home.” 

“Why? Have more fathers to kill?” Mina sneered from Tzuyu’s side on the couch, making Jeongyeon roll her eyes. 

“Look, I said I’m sorry. I don’t know what else you want from me but-” 

“God, shut up.” Chaeyoung groaned, swinging the bathroom door open and walking out, catching everybody’s attention. “I found out that time works differently in each realm.” She admitted before seating herself on the counter beside Jeongyeon. “I don’t know how time works differently between here and our realm, but my source says that the realm Yerim is on works a month for every two hours.” 

“Your source being your… uh…” Tzuyu trailed, and Chaeyoung narrowed her eyes at the nature witch. 

“Yes.” She answered simply, not blinking or showing any emotion on her face at the mention of her lover. “But that also means that there is a very real possibility that time is going either much faster or much slower in our world than it is here.” 

“So… for all we know, we could end up going back and our entire world could’ve changed?” Sana asked, and the death witch rolled her eyes. 

“Obviously.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, making Sana hug her torso insecurely. 

“I just wish that we knew any other witches here.” Tzuyu sighed, and for the first time all morning, Momo spoke up. 

“I know where other witches are.” Momo admitted, mouth full of the orange she was snacking on. 

“Where?” Asked Nayeon excitedly, and the fox shrugged.

“I only know how to get there.” She admitted, “There isn’t a map to it, and it’s invisible to the eyes of the unworthy.” 

“So, does that mean we’re going on a trip?” Chaeyoung asked, putting a foot out at her side and resting her arm on her knee. 

“I think it means we have to talk to Dahyun.” Sana piped, and Jeongyeon scoffed. 

“Why are we bringing a human when the fox clearly said that only the worthy can see it?” 

“Do you know how to summon an ‘Uber,’ Jeongyeon?” Nayeon asked, venom laced in her tone at the assumption that Dahyun’s human status deems her unworthy of seeing such a place. 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in a pout. 

“Whatever.” 

… 

“Are you sure Yerim would approve of you taking control of her vessel?” Asked Jihyo from where she sat in the front middle seat of Yeri’s green, beat up six seater truck, Momo sitting next to her with her eyes trained on the things flying by her outside of the window. 

“I mean, she leaves a spare key at the shop for emergencies, so I’m sure she’d be fine with us using it.” Dahyun smiled, eyes trained on the road in front of her.

“She trusted you with something so special to her?” Jihyo asked, noting that she didn’t know anyone she trusted enough with her last name, let alone a giant metal vessel she used to get around. 

“She and I became close really fast.” Dahyun admitted, “I trust her with my life.”

“Do you love her?” Jihyo chanced, causing the human to turn and look Jihyo in the eyes briefly before looking back to the road. 

“I think I do, yeah.” Dahyun smiled softly to herself. “I mean, we’ve kissed once, but everything with her has always felt right.” Her lips buzzed at the memory of their lock, and her entire body ignited in warmth at the memory of the way Yerim made her feel. “Nothing has ever felt more right than when I kissed her.” 

“How did you meet?” Jihyo asked, intrigued, and Dahyun grinned before shifting in her seat, and tucking her right ankle under her left leg, which stayed near the brake pedal, her knee against Jihyo’s outer thigh. 

“She was walking by while I was getting the store set up, and she helped me unpack boxes and put things on shelves.” She smiled, and suddenly, Jihyo’s eyelids grew heavy and she was forced to close her eyes. 

-

“Need a hand?” Asked an unfamiliar voice from somewhere out of Dahyun’s sight, and when she set the giant box down, she was able to meet eyes with who was beyond her obstructed views. 

“Uh… no thanks.” She chuckled awkwardly, cheeks flush when she let her eyes sink in upon just how beautiful this woman was. 

“Are you sure?” She smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket and presenting it to the woman. “I’ll give you this as insurance that I won’t take anything.” 

Dahyun knew it was out of the ordinary, but something about the woman’s warm eyes and kind smile told her that there was nothing to worry about. 

“Alright… yeah.” She smiled, taking the phone and slipping it into her back pocket. 

“I’m Yerim.” She offered as she followed Dahyun out of the store, to the moving truck to grab boxes. 

“Dahyun.” She smiled naturally, something she hasn’t found herself doing since she lost her grandmother. 

“That’s a beautiful name.” The girl smiled over her shoulder, and that smile, suddenly, it hit the eyes of the woman viewing. 

-

Jihyo opened her eyes and gasped as though all the air had been thrown back into her lungs all at once. 

“Th-that’s my mom!” Jihyo breathed, her head pounding and her body trembling upon the realization. 

“She’s alive?”


	7. "I've Never Seen Anything Like it."

“Remind me again how I got stuck out here with you two.” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes from her place perched on the edge of the driver’s side of the truck, feet planted on the mold of the tire on the inside, elbows propping her head up between her hands and thighs. 

“Because nobody else wanted to sit with this psychopath.” Mina rolled her eyes sharply fromwhere she sat, in the corner against the cab on the passenger side, hugging her knees and peering over them coldly at Jeongyeon, who seemed too lost in her own thoughts to notice and take offense. 

Like Im Nayeon. 

Her best friend. 

How she’s found somebody, and she should be happy for her. 

But it was a human. 

Not even a troll, or one of those dreaded pixies, but a human. 

Of all the species of people she could’ve met over all the places she’s been, it had to be a god forsaken human. 

A kind, warm hearted human with a beautiful smile and inviting eyes at that. 

Though, strangely, when Jeongyeon thought of a beautiful smile and inviting eyes. She found her eyes straying diagonally, toward the ice witch who seemed to have her eyes trained on her as well. 

“Why do you keep staring at me?” Asked the fire witch, and Mina huffed. 

“I don’t trust you is why.” Mina hissed with the roll of her eyes, making Jeongyeon sigh. 

“Listen, I don’t have anything against you. You were never a part of the issue.” She assured, feeling something in her chest clench.

“I’ve heard a completely different story from my people.” Mina sneered. “I heard about how your people slaughtered ours. Stole our lands and slaid all our women as a part of your petty, disgusting power play.” Her voice was filled with rage, and it seemed as though her hatred for Jeongyeon ran much deeper than the death of her father. 

“Is that what they told you?” Jeongyeon asked, outraged by the lies being spewed about her people. “Is that what the men in your coven have convinced you happened to the women? Because in my coven, killing women without just cause is punishable by public torture and execution.” The fire witch’s nostrils were flaring at this point, jaw clenched and throat tight at the notion that she’s been given the blame for such horrific crimes. “We are a coven of women who lift each other up and protect other women from the wrath of a man’s violent impulses.” 

Mina thought about what it could’ve meant, Jeongyeon’s people having not taken her people from her. It would’ve meant that all she learned was a lie. It would’ve meant that, if her coven was capable of lying to her, they could’ve been capable of much much more. It meant that-

“There’s a vessel following us.” Chaeyoung broke Mina’s thoughts, and the two moved their eyes to Chaeyoung’s line of sight, revealing a small black and white car following them. 

“I’ll eliminate them.” Jeongyeon assured dutifully before standing up and lifting her foot to rest on the back of the tailgate, palms up and ready to summon flame from her hands when Mina surged forward and snatched her down by the hood of her sweat shirt, yanking her onto her backside, making the truck shake. 

“What are you doing?!” Mina hissed as Jeongyeon rubbed her tailbone, a glare fixed on the ice witch strongly. “You can’t just kill anything that sees us, those are people with families.” 

“Well, how are we supposed to stop it from following us?” Jeongyeon scoffed, and before Mina could answer, a piercing sound came from the distance, in the direction of the vehicle, followed by the sight of bright lights spewing from the top. 

“Okay, the vessel is angry. Kill it.” Mina okayed, just in time for the truck to pull over. There was a pounding on the back window, and Sana and Nayeon were both gesturing for them to sit down, causing the three to plant themselves into the bed of the truck. A male officer got out of the car, a dusty looking white man with a messy beard and hair too long to be considered clean. 

“Afternoon, ladies.” Nodded the man, pulling his glasses down from his face, making Chaeyoung lean closer, eyes seemingly caught by this shabby looking man.

He knocked on the window, allowing Dahyun to roll it down. 

“License and registration please.” He asked, his voice deep, green eyes scanning the women in the vehicle. 

“Of course.” Dahyun smiled kindly, reaching past Jihyo and Momo, into the glove compartment for the registration. She reached into the pockets of her jacket, panicking when she realized that it was nowhere to be seen. “Sorry, I just can’t find my-” 

“Here.” Momo reached across Jihyo to give the woman the wallet, earning a perplexed look from the two women in the front and the officer. Dahyun took it and opened it before glaring at Momo upon realizing all her coins were missing. The hundred dollar bill and pair of fifties were still there, but Momo held out her hand to present a palm full of nickels, dimes and quarters. “I like shiny things.” She pouted, as big and innocent, and even Jihyo would’ve had a hard time resisting it, despite the fact that she saw the woman just after she had eaten a man’s heart the day before. 

Dahyun sighed before pulling out her license and handing it to the officer, who eyed her carefully before reading the documents. 

“This vehicle is registered to a Kim Yerim.” He rose a brow skeptically, “Your husband, I presume?” 

“Yes.” She smiled, gritting her teeth, and he cleared his throat. 

“Alright, well… I can’t let you off the hook for your three stragglers, unfortunately.” He sighed, reaching into his belt for his ticket book and scribbling on it, in time for Chaeyoung to jump over the side of the truck to look up at the officer. 

“What the hell is she doing?” Nayeon asked, her hushed voice almost laced with panic as the woman turned to stand in front of him, her hand on his chest. 

“Officer… Beiber… is it?” She asked, her voice low and sultry, chin angled up, lips pursed, eyes glazed over at the man who seemed confused at her forwardness. “Is there any way we could…” She toyed with his badge under her fingertip, “forget about this little mishap?” 

“I think I saw a porn like this once.” Nayeon whispered, causing Sana’s eyes to go wide at the notion. 

“What’s a porn?” Tzuyu asked in confusion, to which Sana sighed. 

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” 

“I can’t... excuse this behavior ma’am.” Justin cleared his throat nervously, tugging on the collar of his uniform as if looking for extra room to breathe. 

“Couldn’t you though?” Chaeyoung hummed, a smirk on her lips as she awaited for the sweaty man’s response. 

Apparently everyone else was filled with anticipation, because nobody else in the cab or in the bed of the truck noticed the way Momo’s eyes glaed over, a deep, tar black, her teeth baring, face hidden by her raven hair as she looked down at her hands, watching as her claws protruded from her fingertips. 

Her jaw tightened and she cleared her throat to cover a low, gutteral growl that erupted from the depths of her diaphragm. Her nostrils flared and her chest heaved as she tried her best to be patient for the officer to leave. 

“I-I guess I could let you slide.” He stuttered like a bafoon, making Jeongyeon roll her eyes at his idiocy. 

“Yes… that would be lovely, officer.” Chaeyoung rasped, pulling him down to whisper something in his ear. Something only he could hear, something that, despite her lack of knowledge, made Tzuyu’s jaw tense. 

“This will be quick and painless, I promise.” She whispered, making the officer look down in slight confusion, but before he could question it, she turned him around, making him face Momo, whose face was unrecognizeable, black eyes flashing with the pure embodiment of everything anyone would imagine evil to be. Her skin was dry, a long, black tail coated in slick, leathery looking fur standing on end behind her as she seethed and growled at the terror-stricken man. 

He was unable to even let out a scream before the creature pounced behind him to grab him by the neck with her left hand, right coming down to grip something behind him, pulling it out, a haunting sight to witness: a half-shifted creature holding the spine of a screaming man twice her size, blood pouring from his back onto the asphault at her feet. 

Tzuyu screamed from her spot, reverting into Sana’s side in terror, hiding her eyes from what she just witnessed. Nayeon’s eyes widened from her spot, but she couldn’t look away, even as the man’s body collapsed to the ground. 

“Oh my God!” Mina gasped, looking at Jeongyeon to catch her reaction, but the woman’s face was laced with amusement as she watched the man bleed out all over the ground. 

“That was unexpected.” She chuckled, as Momo tossed the spine asside and ran to the body with a lightning speed, making ungodly noises as she flipped him over and tore at his chest and stomach, shoveling his organs into her mouth like her first meal in ages. 

“Yeah… you guys might want to look away for this.” Chaeyoung suggested, looking off awkwardly and looking inside the car to check on the people inside. “You okay?” She asked of Tzuyu, whose body was trembling against Sana’s embrace. She didn’t answer with anything but a sob. 

Jihyo was sitting in the front seat, holding Dahyun’s head in her hands after having suggested she closed her eyes when she felt the way Momo’s thoughts started to go fuzzy. 

“Don’t open your eyes.” Jihyo demanded quietly to the woman in the driver’s seat, feeling the way the woman’s nerves rattled throughout her entire body, funneling into Jihyo’s brain from the tips of her fingers. 

Once Momo was finished, Chaeyoung assisted in a cleansing ritual to get rid of the vessel and gave Momo her jacket to put over her now bare torso, accompanied by only a bloody sports bra when she got back in the car to everyone in the vehicle looking at her in shock. 

“What?” Momo asked, as though offended at being stared at. “A girl has to eat.” She pouted, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them before leaning against Jihyo who, for some unknown reason, seemed unphased. 

“H-how long have you been hungry?” Dahyun asked nervously from the other side of Jihyo, and Momo shrugged. 

“It usually sneaks up on me.” She admitted, making Mina speak up from where she leaned into the window beside Tzuyu.

“How do we know it won’t…” She trailed off nervously, “...sneak up on you again where there are no greasy officers to prey on?” 

“What are you asking?” Momo asked, seemingly offended at Mina’s accusation. 

“Actually,” Jihyo spoke up over her shoulder at the four cautious women behind them, “Nine tailed foxes feed off of hearts filled with ill intent and livers filled with toxins. They only feel the need to feed on humans when the energy is so potent that they can smell the toxins and ill intent.” Jihyo assured, “So, as long as none of you have ill intent or an intense addiction to alcoholic substances, we’ll be fine.” She assured, and Tzuyu leaned forward, around Mina to Chaeyoung, who was walking around at the edge of the woods off to the side of the road. 

“I’m gonna go check on Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu announced, voice gruff from crying, alerting Mina that she needed to move aside. 

“Do you want me to come with you?” She asked carefully, as to ensure Tzuyu knows Mina is there. 

“No, I’ll be okay.” The nature witch smiled kindly as she slid off the back seat, kissing Mina on the cheek in appreciation as she passed, eyes fixed on the necromancer as she approached. 

She watched as Chaeyoung looked around on the ground for something, eyes focused intently. 

“What are you searching for?” Tzuyu asked with interest, making the short witch sigh. 

“A black dahlia.” She admitted, and the tallest witch chuckled before walking forward and taking Chaeyoung’s hand to drag her further among the trees, weaving in and out of the branches. 

“Where are you taking me?” Chaeyoung asked, voice just as monotone as always, despite the way her mind raced with all the possibilities of being pulled into a forest by a witch whose biggest ability and strength comes from nature.

“We have to find a warmer place to grow one, because Dahlias grow in the summer, in sand, so you won’t find one here, but if we try and imitate its growing conditions, we can grow one.” She assured once they made it to a clearing in the forest, one where the sun shone through a gap between the branches, leaving a patch of warm foliage at the other end of the warm rays. Tzuyu swept her hand along the leaves and picked the grass out of the ground to expose the dirt before closing her eyes and inhaling deeply to replant the grass to the side, as though bringing it to a new home. She whispered something to it, something Chaeyoung couldn’t hear from where she stood a few feet behind her in observance. 

“Today, I ask, indebted to the sun,” Tzuyu chanted, hands pointed to the sky, as though speaking straight at the source of the heat she had sought out for this moment, “I pray that you grant fertile soil so that I may summon a mighty being in your name.” She prayed, inhaling deeply and stiffening her posture, as though using it as a rod to summon the power to grow the plant Chaeyoung so needed. 

Tzuyu smiled over her shoulder at the small witch and reached out a hand in her direction, making the blonde roll her eyes before moving to kneel beside the taller woman, as though they were back on the roof of Dahyun’s New York City shop again. She looked down at the ground, and watched as the dirt changed its form, from dark and heavy to light and airy, like sand. Tzuyu muttered something again before rubbing her hands together and cupping them over the new patch of sand, summoning a plant from nothing. 

Chaeyoung watched as her companion opened her hands wider and wider to accomodate the growing size of the shrub until it sprouted the dahlia, a soft, warm orange color. Before Chaeyoung could make some mouthy remark, another grew, a deep red, then another, and another, and another, each a different color and shape, until, after what Chaeyoung counted to be the forty first flower, the last one, a dark, deep shade of reddish purple, so dark that the pit was jet black grew at the very center, the largest of the forty two, making Chaeyoung’s eyes grow bright at the wondrous sight. 

“Do you want to do the honors?” Tzuyu asked kindly, and Chaeyoung hesitated before sighing with the roll of her eyes and looking down at the soil beneath the bountiful shrub. 

“On this day,” Chaeyoung sighed, “Under the light of the scalding sun, we ask for a sacrifice. We want to express our gratitude to the earth for supplying us this great offering.” She felt something in her chest swell, and the sincerity she was lacking suddenly found her. “We thank you, Mother.” She cleared her throat, “For this gift.” 

Before her eyes, a small nub of the flower grew back as the sage had when Tzuyu did it before, and something about it tugged at the heart Chaeyoung was never truly sure she ever had. 

“D-did I do that?” Chaeyoung asked to Tzuyu, who was smiling at her fondly. 

“You did.” The taller witch promised, excitement written all over her peaceful features as Chaeyoung stood up with the black Dahlia in her hand, looking up into the woman’s eyes when she stood up as well. 

“I-I’ve never…” Her words caught in her throat, not sure at all why it is she was so ready to open up to this witch she just met. 

Tzuyu wasn’t surprised when Chaeyoung cleared her throat and looked away before leavin the clearing, making her follow the shorter woman.

“Oh God…” Tzuyu’s stomach churned and her heart grew heavy when she saw the remains of the body that was disembowled by the creature in the front seat of Yerim’s vehicle. 

“He’s passing on.” Chaeyoung assured Tzuyu as she kneeled beside what was left of him, crushing the flower between her fingers and sprinkling the pedals over him. “It was his time.” Her voice grew quieter as she spoke an incantation under her breath, granting his soul safe passage to the afterlife. 

“D-does that mean you couldn’t bring him back to life?” Tzuyu asked nervously, chancing a peak over her shoulder at the body, which now seemed fine, his face peaceful, eyes and mouth closed, body intact as he was never less than whole. 

“It isn’t impossible,” Chaeyoung admitted, “but doing so would leave him broken.” The flower pedals sank into the skin of his naked body, bringing color back to it, turning the black pedals a deep shade of crimson, as though obsorbing every ounce of blood painting his form. “His soul will never be whole again. It will remain a shell of what it would be if we let it move on and grant it the freedom it has craved for years.” She dragged her fingers through the soil and took a handful before sprinkling it over his body before standing up and looking to Tzuyu, who seemed awestruck. 

“Is that why you were seducing him?” Tzuyu asked nervously, “Were you trying to lure his soul?” Just as she finished her question, the officer’s eyes opened, a white sheen over the glass of his view, pupils and color missing. No blood vessels, no life evident. Suddenly, his clothes were back on him, unscathed and in perfect uniform fashion. He walked past a shocked Tzuyu, straight to his cruiser and got inside, closing the door and turning around to drive in the direction they had just come. 

“I could feel his life force draining the closer he got to the truck.” Chaeyoung admitted as she stood in the same place the body laid, dropping to her knees to toussel the soil again. “I didn’t know how he would die, just that it must’ve had something to do with us. I simply stalled until his soul was ready to leave the vessel.” She chuckled softly at how it happened before looking over her shoulder at the woman she spoke to. “I didn’t predict he’d get his intestines torn out and eaten by a strangely adorable woman in human clothes.”

“Death isn’t funny.” Tzuyu complained, crossing her arms over her shoulder.

“It is when you’ve seen as much as I have.” She admitted with a sigh before muttering something and looking up at the sky, opening her arms out to it, as though asking for something. Her warm flesh turned a haunting grey color before Tzuyu’s eyes as she chanted an incantation, voice like glass against Tzuyu’s eardrums.

A cloud of black smoke washed over the two women, rousing a chill through the nature witch’s spine and the sight of her breath from the cold that suddenly engulfed them, making Tzuyu think that the smoke must’ve been the source of the frozen air.

Suddenly, the hissing stopped, and with it, the smoke cleared in the blink of an eye, filling Tzuyu’s heart with a light, airy sensation that made her smile.

Chaeyoung stood up, flesh back to its pink, lively color as she stepped out of the imaginary patch of ground. 

“His vessel will collide with another later today, making his passing seem humanlike.” Chaeyoung stated, voice scratchy from her chant, and Tzuyu wordlessly kneeled beside the patch, waving her hand over the patch and conjuring up a sapling. 

Tzuyu smiled over her shoulder before moving her palms over her head as the sapling grew into a collossal oak tree before Chaeyoung’s eyes. 

In all Chaeyoung’s centuries, after watching things grow and die and grow again, she’s never witnessed something quite so wondrous. 

“In his honor.” Tzuyu whispered, and Chaeyoung didn’t have the heart to tell her that he was a cheating alcoholic with no honor. 

Instead, she cleared her throat and nodded with a kind smile. “In his honor.”

Once the two made it back to the truck and debriefed the group on the vessel and its whearabouts, they all stood around, tired from just a day of travelling. 

“Can’t we just teleport there?” Dahyun asked,and Nayeon grunted. 

“We don’t even know where it is. Only Momo knows where it is.” She reminded, to which the fox pouted before curling deeper into Jihyo’s side, tucking her knees into her chest. 

Suddenly, Jihyo gasped in realization. 

She turned to Momo, putting her arm over Momo’s body to look at her tired form. 

“I know you said I couldn’t, but…” The Quizmaster began, feeling nothing but desire in the pit of her stomach. 

Desire, ambition, wonder. 

Desire to find her mother, ambition to do anything it takes to do so, and wonder… 

Oh, wonder. 

Wonder of what she’s like. 

Wonder of what it would feel like to be held by her again. 

Wonder of what her voice sounds like. 

So much wondrous wonder. 

“You feel unsteady.” Momo whispered, and Jihyo seemed hesitant to respond, but Momo wasn’t waiting for it. Instead, she laid her hand upon Jihyo’s chest, feeling the pounding of her heart against her chest under the tips of her fingers, hearing it with her enhanced hearing. “You need to rest your heavy heart.” 

Momo sighed before taking Jihyo’s head in her hands by either side, lying her forehead against the one before her and closing her head as though presenting the thought to her. 

“Go ahead and take it.” She whispered, and Jihyo closed her eyes, only to be presented with a memory, rather than a thought. 

-

She opened her eyes and looked down to the ground as it zipped by beneath her in a blur, black paws moving so fast that her eyes couldn’t process them as anything but that same blur. She felt the vessel’s chest heaving, aching, lungs burning as she snapped twigs beneath her sensitive toes, weaving in and out of trees, begging for comfort. Behind her, Jihyo heard screaming and volgar cursing, followed by a deafening sound that echoed in her sensitive eardrums, followed by the feeling of something tearing through her leg, a white hot heat that threw off her steps, tossing her into a tree at inhuman speed, making her ribcage collide with the tree. A whimper fell from Momo’s snout, and Jihyo felt the familiar feeling of broken ribs as she limped off as fast as she could. It was pouring down rain, and her fur grew heavy with water as she continued to weave between trees, until she came to a dead end. 

“There’s nowhere to go, witch!” Screamed a man from behind Momo, but she didn’t dare look back, paws just barely hanging onto the muddy ledge as she looked off, noting the pointed rocks that laid hundreds of feet below. Her hearing was pierced by the sound of a gun going off again, and in a split second decision, Momo jumped.

Expecting to meet her end, Momo was surprised to meet a cool blast of water rushing all over her body. She was filled with a sudden energy, and her throbbing leg was now free of any pain, ribs healing themselves as she swam through the water that engulfed her. 

It felt like she swam for hours in search of land, of somewhere to rest her spent body. 

Of somewhere to finally feel safe, even just long enough to sleep before going on the run again. 

She didn’t realize she was asleep until she woke up to the feeling of her back slamming against something solid. She opened her heavy eyes and noted the sight of a civilization. 

Of kids running around in harmony with one another, some with tails, some wings, some normal. 

“Welcome.” Smiled a woman with a kind smile, and, again, there she was. “I’m Yerim.” 

\- 

“Mom!” Jihyo screamed upon leaving the memory, her chest heaving and body sweating as she pulled away from Momo, who seemed nervous. “My mom was there too!” She looked around at everyone before meeting eyes with the fox again. “You know my mom?” 

“It makes sense that you are Yerim’s daughter.” She admitted, fingers tugging at the hem of Chaeyoung’s jacket. “She was the only human who has not broken my trust.” 

“Listen…” Nayeon sighed, “I know you’re having a moment, but we should really get going.” 

“Right,” Jihyo muttered, shaking her head from the new discovery and clearing her throat before taking Nayeon’s hand. She closed her eyes and thought back to the path she took, to the river, and to the unseen land. 

When she opened her eyes, there she was, standing atop an unsteady land of rocks, holding Nayeon’s hand and looking around at a clear, still body of water, so clean she could see the fish swimming beneath the surface. 

Only, some looked like the ones in the tank in Dahyun’s flat, and some had horns, and three tails, and nine eyes, and fur, and teeth. 

“W-we’re here?” Jihyo whispered, looking around to take it all in as Nayeon orbed away to get the others. She stood in the center of what seemed to be an island the shape of a horseshoe. To her right, there was a small tail of the island that rounded, closing off a small part of water where a small group of children played as one.

Some ran on their little feet, dressed in clothes similar to the ones Dahyun wore, some had little wings sprouting from their backs through holes in robes made by hand. Some had tails and some hand claws. Nonetheless, they played and ran around in laughter, splashing each other with water. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Momo asked from behind Jihyo, making her turn around just in time to see Nayeon vanish again. 

Just beyond the children was an edge of the island, scattered in trees that all tapered off, up into the sky on top of a mountain that reached the cotton white clouds. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” She whispered, awestruck as her eyes hopped, one by one from one little cottage peppering the mountain between the trees to another, each different in size, shape and color. 

“It’s the only place I’ve ever been where I haven’t feared my life.” She admitted, turning to look at the other end, a dock and boats and boat houses attaching themselves to the edge of land, just a few metres from another small gathering of buildings. 

“Why did you leave?” Jihyo asked, following as Momo walked past her to step on the hook of land that closed off the small pool for the children. Large rocks lined the strip of land, holding it up from several feet from the still, calm water. There were three benches spread out at the edge of the path, and Momo sat at the one in the middle, facing out at the opening between the two edges of the island, watching as the sun set out behind the mountains that ended the view of the water. 

Jihyo sat beside her, watching as Momo closed her eyes and breathed in the cool, crisp air, listening to the birds and Kirpos as they chirped and giffawed in the distance before answering. 

“I don’t know.” She admitted, making Jihyo’s eyes snap to the creature in confusion. “I don’t remember leaving.” 

… 

“Alright, Sana, let’s go.” Nayeon insisted, putting a hand out to Sana, who seemed hesitant. 

“Let me go last.” She requested, voice small as she looked down at her hands, filled with insecurities. 

Nayeon sighed before moving to Jeongyeon and holding her hands out for her best friend to take. “Let’s go.” She smiled, and the fire witch seemed just as reluctant. 

“Why did you ask her before me?” She asked, eyes tearing into Nayeon’s soul. 

“Because she can’t take care of herself like you can.” Nayeon shrugged as though it was the easiest answer in the world, which, for Nayeon, it was. 

Not so much for Jeongyeon. 

“I thought I’d be your top priority.” The taller witch accused, and Nayeon sighed for the second time. 

“Jeong, are you upset with me for kissing her?” She asked finally, and Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. 

“Why would I care about a human?” She scoffed. 

“It’s not the human you care about, Jeong. It’s me caring about the human that you don’t like.” 

It was silent for a moment, and Jeongyeon briefly considered that she would’ve prefered Mina’s company over Nayeon’s when she was so inquisitive. 

“Just…” Jeongyeon sighed before holding out her arm. “Take me to the island.” 

And before Sana’s eyes, Jeongyeon and Nayeon were gone, leaving her with Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu. 

Sana moved to the back of the truck and hoisted herself up on the tailgate to sit beside Dahyun, who seemed troubled. 

“What is it that’s bugging you?” Sana asked of her human companion, who sighed. 

“It’s just that I’m not ready for this all to be over.” She admitted, looking down at her feet as they swung every which way. “I just discovered some of the most incredible things ever, and I can’t even talk to my favorite person about it because she’s missing.” 

Sana frowned at the notion that Dahyun wouldn’t be going with them. 

“If it’s any consolation…” Sana trailed, kicking her feet the same, just to have something to look at, “I don’t think I’ll be able to see it.” 

“Why is that?” Asked the shop owner, as though it were the most obsurd thing she’s ever heard. 

Sana felt her stomach ache at the idea of having to make such an admission. 

“Momo said that only the worthy can see it.” She frowned. “I’m just a human.” 

“That’s nonsense!” Dahyun snipped, catching Sana off guard. The shop owner placed her hand over Sana’s, looking her deep in the eyes. “Nobody is more worthy of seeing that island than you, Sana. Nobody has more kindness, and integrity, and warmth in their heart than you.” 

It was silent, and Dahyun was looking between Sana’s eyes, as if searching for something, and for some reason, Sana’s entire being felt… safe. 

Throughout all of this, with all that was on the line, after witnessing all she did, after being in a place she could never call home, she felt a little sense of it in this interaction, and, for a breif second, she believed every word Dahyun uttered. 

“Okay…” Sana inhaled, still unsure before looking away and exhaling with a nod. “Okay… yeah. But if I’m going, so are you.” She demanded, throwing Dahyun off. 

“What?” She asked, shocked, and the misplaced human shrugged. 

“Why not? You’re just as worthy as I am. Besides, you’re the only one who knows anything about Yerim, so you’re just as much a part of this as we are.” She reasoned just as Nayeon made it back, seemingly already having had taken the two remaining witches while they were talking. 

“Ready to go?” Asked the messenger, out of breath from all the back and forth, her skin pale, eyes hooded as she stumbled to the side. 

“Are you okay?” Sana asked in concern, taking Nayeon’s arm, to which the woman nodded. 

“I’m fine, just need sleep.” She assured weakly, and Sana smiled. 

“Okay. We’re ready to go.” Confirmed the human, making Nayeon raise a brow. 

“‘We?’” She asked, and Dahyun blushed. 

“She’s the only one who knows anything about Yerim. How are we supposed to find him when we don’t know where to start?” Sana reasoned, making Nayeon sigh tiredly. 

“We just found out Momo knows her.” She remindd, and Sana shook her head. 

“The version of Yerim that Momo knew isn’t the same person Dahyun knows. She knew Yerim up to the moment she disappeared.” She assured, taking Nayeon’s hands and looking into her eyes pleadingly. “Nayeon, please, trust me on this. We need her.” 

The air between them was silent, and Nayeon looked over Sana’s shoulder at Dahyun, who seemed nervous, and insecure as she looked at her feet. 

“Fine.” The witch exhaled, holding her other hand out for Dahyun to take. “I’m taking you both at the same time.” She informed, and as soon as the second human took Nayeon’s hand, they were standing on those same rocks, looking out at the horizon. 

“Wow,” Sana gasped as she turned away to look around, “Nayeon, this is-” 

She was cut off upon looking back to see Nayeon stumble forward, then collapse to the rocks. 

“Nayeon!?”


	8. "I Don't Want There To Be Conflict."

Sana fell to her knees to check on her companion, checking her temperature and pulse as Jeongyeon ran up from the water to where her best friend laid on the rocks. 

“What did you do?” Jeongyeon hissed, dropping to Nayeon’s other side and slapping her cheeks to wake her up, to no avail. 

“I-I didn’t know she couldn’t handle taking Dahyun and I both, I-I’m sorry, I-” Jeongyeon cut her off angrily. 

“Of course you didn’t!” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, “Did you think that maybe after an exhausting day yesterday and two hours of sleep she’d be tired?” 

“Stop yelling at her!” Jihyo demanded as she ran up, Momo just behind her. “Fighting isn’t going to make her better, Jeongyeon. In fact, it’ll be longer before she’s better if you take time out to be angry at a situation that cannot be corrected right now.” She rationalized, shooing Jeongyeon away to make way for Momo, who picked up the unconcious witch, bridal style, carrying her to the water and walking in until Nayeon floated on her back over Momo’s outstretched arms. Sana ran after the creature, into the water, feeling her skin tingle upon touching it, feeling her entire body grow feather light. She looked at her hands and her papercuts closed up before her eyes, a scar on her forearm fading completely, leaving her flesh completely clear. 

Sana’s eyes snapped to Nayeon in Momo’s arms, and she watched as the color returned to her cheeks against the water. The dark cicrles around her eyes returned to their original color, and in the next second, Nayeon’s eyes opened, making Sana brethe a sigh of relief. 

“Nayeon, I’m so sorry…” Sana frowned to herself, not daring look the messenger in the eyes as she floated upright, thanking Momo briefly before mobing through the water to look Sana in the eyes, taking her hands tenderly. 

“It isn’t your fault.” Nayeon promised, “I should’ve paced myself and given myself the chance to sleep.” 

“But you would’ve slept if it weren’t for me, and I-” Sana’s sad rambling was cut off when Nayeon pulled the girl’s face in for a kiss. 

The messenger melted against the sad human, her body igniting in wonder, her heart soaring like a bald eagle, strong and free to roam as it pleases, not a care in the world. 

“I am an adult who makes her own decisions, Sana.” She assured once they pulled away, her hands on either side of the blonde’s head to keep her eyes locked with her own. “I made the decision to leave last night, and even knowing the consequences, I wouldn’t change that.” She promised, and Sana searched Nayeon’s eyes with hers for anything less that utmost sincerity, coming up empty handed and finally nodding. 

“Okay…” Sana sighed, leaning her head against Nayeon’s and wrapping her arms around her waist. “But next time, we’re gonna be more careful.” She said sternly, making the messenger giggle. 

“Okay. I promise we’ll be more careful.” 

Their moment was cut short by the sound of frustrated grunting behind them, and when Nayeon opened her mouth to speak up to her disgruntled friend, a new voice spoke. 

“Welcome!” Said the voice, making nine pairs of eyes look off to the left side of the island where a woman came walking toward them along the shoreline, a kind, warm smile on her lips. 

“Chan-mi?” Asked Momo, eyes wide as she met them with her old friend. 

“Momo!” She called, arms open, inviting Momo in for a hug. “What happened to you? You just disappeared without a word.” She recalled as the two embraced, and the creature sighed. 

“Oh, you know I never stay still for too long.” She smiled, and Chan-mi hummed as they pulled away. 

“Are these your friends?” She asked of the bunch of eight who approached cautiously. 

“I don’t have friends.” Momo reminded, “But, for the lack of a better term, yes.” 

“Welcome to Oracle Bay! I’m Chungha.” She offered, eyes falling on the woman closest to her, a suddenly all-too-chipper Jeongyeon. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Jeongyeon.” She put a hand out for the woman to shake. 

“What brings you all here?” Asked the new face, to which Jihyo responded. 

“We’re actually looking for Kim Yerim. Has she been here?” She asked, her tone seeminlgy desparate, eyes begging for the answer she wanted to hear. 

Chungha’s eyes scanned over Jihyo’s form for a moment, stepping around Jeongyeon to meet eyes with the woman before taking her hands. Her eyes seemed to take her in before she closed them and inhald through her nose, allowing herself to feel the blood coursing through her veins from the surface of her hands.

“We’ve heard many stories of you, Jihyo.” She smiled finally, opening her eyes kindly. “We’ve awaited your arrival for many many years.” 

“M-me?” Jihyo asked in confusion, and the civilian smiled kindly. 

“Dear child,” Chungha chuckled, searching Jihyo’s eyes for something unspoken. “Do you really not know who you are?” She asked, and Jihyo looked around to the women surrounding her. 

“I’m Yerim’s daughter.” Jihyo said affirmatively, making Chungha chuckle. 

“One of few.” She revealed, making Jihyo’s eyes widen. 

“I’m sorry… does that mean I have-” 

“Sisters? Precisely.” She chuckled before turning around and walking back toward the direction they came from, motioning for them all to follow. 

At the back of the group, Dahyun followed far behind, eyes downcast, not willing to speak, or even look around, for fear of being blamed for Nayeon’s blunder. 

“Maybe you should look up before you hurt yourself.” Tzuyu spoke up, making the human jump in a start. She looked up with wide eyes, and the tall witch giggled. “I apologize for startling you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dahyun sighed, looking down at the rocks that crunched under her shoes. 

“You shouldn’t feel guilty.” Tzuyu advised, “It isn’t your fault that she collapsed.” 

“Thanks.” Dahyun smiled tightly, not quited conviced of Tzuyu’s words. 

“For what it’s worth, I believe in you.” She offered, causing Dahyun to raise a brow in confusion. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Exactly.” Tzuyu grinned as the group made their way around the water to a path that lead a ways up the hill toward the main part of the village. 

“Yerim created Oracle Bay to be a safe haven.” Chungha admitted as everyone looked around at the children playing, and different creatures as they walked around town, going about their daily activities like regular people. 

“My mom created this place?” Jihyo asked in wonder, and Chungha chuckled. 

“Legend says that she loved a human.” She explained, and Nayeon ignored the feeling of Jeongyeon’s eyes tearing a hole into the back of her head. “She knew it wasn’t safe for her in the human world, so when she tried bringing him to the magical realm, many powerful administrators were against a human setting foot in the realm, and even went as far as to try and arrange an assassin to get rid of him.” 

Dahyun stopped in her tracks at the words, and for a second, a thought pestered her mind, swarming around like a wasp, buzzing in the backs of her eardrums. 

She quickly shook her head free from it and continued listening to Chungha. 

“Eventually, she decided to make this place, a paradise where humans and magical creatures alike can live in harmony without the dangers of living in the human world, and without the ridicule of the witches and others in the magical realm.” 

“I don’t understand…” Sana spoke up from Nayeon’s side, “Why is it that nobody bothered trying to kill me? I grew up in the magical world, and I’m human.” 

“Is that what they told you?” Chungha asked over her shoulder, making Sana look at her in confusion. 

“I feel like it’d be hard to miss someone killing me, even if just once in my twenty three years.” She offered,tone screaming in obveity. 

“Interesting…” Chungha trailed before turning back around to continue their walk. “Maybe times have changed since. It has been almost a hundred human years since his death.” 

“I’m sorry… his death?” Asked Dahyun in confusion, making the civilian smile sadly. 

“Unfortunately, even magic can’t stop someone from his demise.” 

“Wait…” Jihyo’s head swam with questions as they began to walk along a small boardwalk area. “This happened before I was born?” She asked in confusion, and Chaeyoung took a turn to speak up. 

“Remember, time works differently in this realm and that.” She reminded, “For all we know, a hundred human years could be ten years in our realm.” 

Jihyo exhaled disappointedly before plopping into the seated position on the dock, allowing her feet to dangle off as she stared down at the still water. 

So many possibilies ran across Jihyo’s mind and her head ached as questions seared into her brain. 

What if Chaeyoung was right and a hundred years was equal to ten years?

Does that mean her mom didn’t want her? 

Does that mean she chased after her love at the expense of leaving Jihyo?

Does that mean Dahyun doesn’t actually mean as much to Yerim as she thought?

What if Yerim left in search of him?

Jihyo didn’t realize why there were so many thoughts about Dahyun until she turned and saw Dahyun sitting beside her, thinking incredibly loud as she stared down at the water as well. 

“I thought being worthy of being here would’ve felt a lot better than this.” Dahyun admitted sadly, and Sana sat beside Dahyun, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and leaning against it to comfort her. 

“We don’t know the facts.” Sana reminded, “You can’t make assumptions that’ll hurt you.” She said, not only to Dahyun, but to Jihyo as well. “The only way we can get answers is by finding her.” 

“It’s starting to feel like a lost cause.” Jihyo grumbled. “If she wanted to be found, we would’ve found her by now.” 

“It’s never that easy, Jihyo. You of all people know that.” Sana assured before getting up and sitting between Dahyun and Jihyo, draping arms over both of them and pulling them close. “You have to have a little hope, because without that, we might as well be stuck here forever.” 

“At this point, I’m not so sure I’d mind that.” The Quizmaster mumbled, and it was Jeongyeon’s turn to speak up. 

“Well I can’t stay, I have a coven to protect and a war to win.” She complained, and Mina spoke up from behind her. 

“And I guess that means I have a war to stop.” 

“And two covens to unite.” Tzuyu spoke up.

“And we have a prophecy to figure out.” Nayeon reminded, making Chaeyoung roll her eyes. 

“I don’t really have anything to live for.” Momo shrugged. Sana shook her head at all the chimes before moving her arm from Jihyo’s shoulder to take her hand tightly. 

“You yourself said, ‘when you have knowledge, supernatural abilities are simply an accessory you don’t need to thrive.’” Sana reminded, making Jihyo raise a brow. 

“What does that have to do with this situation?” She inquired, to which the human sighed. 

“If you are not learning and growing, and acquiring more knowledge, then are you living?” She asked, understanding more than anybody what makes life worth living. “Learning is the most incredible high of all, and if you stay here, you will live an empty, unhappy life, haunted by the thought that you could’ve done so much more than you were capable of.” 

It was silent for a moment, Jihyo, for once, not having an argument for a point being made. 

Jihyo knew Sana was right. 

She was gone for three days and has already begun unlocking abilities she never knew existed. 

After twenty years of being buried in books and classes and mentors, she was unable to accomplish what she’s been trying for, just in a matter of days. 

This was the rush that came with knowledge, and exploration seemed to be just the push she needed to tap into the part of her powers that indicated her excellence. 

The part of her abilities that made her special. 

The part of her abilities that came from an oracle. 

“Well, it seems as though we need another plan.” Jihyo sighed in relent, and Sana grinned before looking up at Chungha. 

“Do you have a library of sorts?” She inquired, “I wonder if there’s anything in there that isn’t in the archives in our realm.” 

Chungha gracefully turned and requested that the two follow her, leaving the other seven alone on the boardwalk. 

“Hey lady!” Chaeyoung called out at Chungha, who turned around at the edge of the boardwalk. “What was the name of Yerim’s lover?” 

“Jung Hoseok.” 

… 

Chaeyoung had found herself a ways up the mountain on the right wing of Oracle Bay, surrounded by trees for the second time on this day. This time, she’s decided to go alone so she could sit on the ground in between four trees that were grouped closely together. 

She closed her eyes and uttered the name in her mind from her lips. 

“Jung Hoseok.” She whispered, searching her mind, body and soul for the name. 

“Jung Hoseok.” She said louder this time, manifesting a face, and smell, an origin, a soul. 

Something. 

“Jung Hoseok.” She whispered again, begging to see if her theory is correct. 

Dahyun seemed upset to think that she wasn’t as special to Yerim as she expected, and it was written all over her face, so it compelled Chaeyoung to do some of her own investigating. 

“Jung Hoseok!”

“Nope.” Said a familiar voice, catching Chaeyoung off guard and making her open her eyes to see the face of her beloved sitting right across from her. “Just Jinsoul.” She smiled, and Chaeyoung sighed, her heavy heart soaring at the sight of that smile. 

“I’ve missed you.” Chaeyoung mumbled, opening her arms for her girlfriend to dive into. She held the girl closely and closed her eyes, inhaling her scent and revelling in the feeling of Jinsoul against her once again, and the girl hummed before pulling away. 

“I’ve missed you too, my love.” Jinsoul promised, pulling her knees to her chest to look at Chaeyoung. 

“Did you find anything out?” Asked the necromancer, to which her love nodded. 

“This Yerim is very highly regarded by mortals and humble witches.” She informed, “It seems the witches in charge don’t like her at all though, for some reason.” 

“Did you happen to come across the name Jung Hoseok?” Chaeyoung asked with intrigue, to which the taller woman hummed. 

“I’ve heard it a couple times. He seems to have been held with the same regard by the same people.” She observed. 

“Do you know how he passed?” Chaeyoung asked, causing her love to raise a brow. 

“Shouldn’t you know that?” She countered, to which Chaeyoung grunted. 

“I can’t find his soul.” She admitted, and Jinsoul’s face fell. “We both know that could mean one of two things.” She continued, “Either he’s in limbo, or…” She exhaled heavily, knowing it could easily confirm her theory. “...his soul lives on.”

It was silent for a moment, the air between them thick as Chaeyoung anticipated Jinsoul’s next words. 

“Or…” She looked up from the ground through her eyelashes cautiously, “he could be like me.”

“No.” Chaeyoung insisted sternly, nostrils flaring and jaw tight in anger, “I promised you I’d never do that to another soul.” She reminded. 

“That doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t have done it.” Jinsoul rationalized, to which Chaeyoung growled. 

“I’m the only one capable of it!” She reminded, making Jinsoul flinch at the force of her tone. “It’s out of the question, there’s no way he’s like you.” She said in finality, mimicking Jinsoul’s position and resting her chin on her knees sadly. “I would never put someone through that kind of pain again… ever.” 

“It was worth it.” Jinsoul muttered, and Chaeoung lifted her head to look her lover in the eyes again. 

“Is it?” She scoffed, “Living like this, acting like everything is okay when-” She cut herself off with a sob before looking the girl in the eyes. “Jinsoul, I haven’t felt your heartbeat in nearly two hundred years. You can’t tell me that being with me is worth two hundred lifeless years.” 

“Chae…” Jinsoul sighed, getting up on her hands and knees and crawling to her beloved, flattening the woman’s knees so she could sit on her lap and look her deep in the eyes, hands cradling her face. “Just knowing you were mine made this all worth it. Being yours was like living more than a billion years with a heart pounding against my chest.” She promised, taking one of Chaeyoung’s hands and placing it upon her chest. “The way you’ve made me feel is stronger than any feeling my heart could’ve given me, and these two hundred years have been more full of life than any over lifetime without you.” 

It was silent for a moment, and the two knew what this was. 

They knew what this meant.

“You’re talking about us in past tense.” Chaeyoung whimpered, her throat tight, chest aching and heavy in comparison to how it was feather light just minutes ago.

“I think you know what has to be done.” Jinsoul’s lip quivered as she stroked her thumb over Chaeyoung’s cheek to wipe away a single tear.

“Please,” Chaeyoung sobbed, “I-I can’t lose you, w-we were just together a couple days ago, I-” 

“I know…” Jinsoul whispered before wrapping her arms around Chaeyoung, resting her chin against Chaeyoung’s shoulder while the necromancer burrowed her face into the taller woman’s neck, soaking it with her tears. “I never could’ve asked for a better lover.” She whispered her own sob, fingers trembling against Chaeyoung’s back as she rubbed it with her palm slowly. “It’s time for you to move on. I can feel you hanging on, and it’s okay to let go, my love.” She assured, and Chaeyoung let out another sob. 

“I-I don’t understand, w-what was your unfinished business?” Chaeyoung asked, and Jinsoul pulled away to look at her beloved again, smiling despite her tear stained cheeks. 

“You.” She assured, leaning in to press her lips to the woman’s forehead. 

“B-but you never got to find Yerim-” 

“You know that’s not it.” She assured with the shake of her head. “You’ve found where you belong. You’ve found someone you can trust.” She recalls, and Chaeyoung lets out a sob, her body growing too weak for her to hold herself in the upward seated position. She sat back against the tree, holding Jinsoul’s hips under her hands softly, and the girl moved to place her palms over the ones against her. She took them and pressed a kiss to the knuckles of each. “Good luck with your journey, my love. And goodbye, maybe forever, maybe not.” 

Chaeyoung closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, she’d wake up in her home with her lover, and this would all be a dream. 

But with one last tear to be wiped from her face, she opened her eyes, and there was nobody to wipe them away. 

… 

“What the hell was that back there?!” Jeongyeon hissed at her best friend as they walked along the water’s edge together. “I have never, ever seen you faint before. Not even after you teleported all eleven of us during Sooyoung’s fifteenth birthday slumber party.” She recalled to her best friend, whose eyes were cast down at the water.

“It’s happening, Jeong.” She whispered, making the fire witch raise a brow in confusion at her best friend. 

“What are you talking about, Nay?” She asked, nerves creeping up her body until her chest grew heavy with painful anticipation. 

Nayeon sat down in the rocks and looked out at the water, watching as the small guppies and frogs and polmies thrived below the surface. “The curse.” She whispered, and Jeongyeon sneered. 

“With the human?!” 

“Seriously?” Nayeon asked, outraged by her friend’s reaction. “This isn’t about her, it’s about me.” She reminded, and the taller woman sighed before sitting beside Nayeon and leaning against her shoulder as she watched the horizon. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, “I think it’s just easier to be mad at the human than it is to face the reality.” 

“And what is reality?” Nayeon asked, not taking her eyes off of the ground. 

“That I’m losing my best friend.” She whispered, voice gruff, betraying a sob she was trying to keep in. 

“The sad truth is that, in the least traditional sense, you are.” She whispered, and Jeongyeon sighed. 

“I can always do it for you.” Jeongyeon suggested, and Nayeon sighed.

“You know I can’t let you do that.” 

“Yeah…” Jeongyeon frowned, “It was worth a shot.” 

“I just want to see you happy. Driven by something other than rage and war.” Nayeon mumbled sadly, and it seemed to have caught Jeongyeon’s attention. 

“It’s not rage or war, Nay.” Jeongyeon assured, “It’s duty. Honor.” 

“Then maybe you should show honor by scraping your pride off the sidewalk and talking to the woman who sees otherwise.” She demanded before standing up and leaving Jeongyeon in her place. 

She toyed with a rock under her hand for a moment before she heard the sound of footsteps from the opposite direction Nayeon left in. 

“I guess your friend is smart enough to know how to avoid conflict.” Mina spoke from Jeongyeon’s right, to which the fire witch sighed. 

“I don’t want there to be conflict.” Jeongyeon admitted quietly, staring down at the ground once again. 

“Is what you said about your coven true?” Mina asked, taking a seat on the other side of Jeongyeon, opposite where Nayeon was seated before. 

“Of all the things I’ve done in my life,” Jeongyeon mumbled as she looked up, eyes catching the first star in the sky as the sun almost finished its journy behind the horizon. “Lying is one I can say I don’t do.” She promised, and Mina hugged her knees to her chest with a frown etched in her features. 

“Do you know the truth?” Mina asked, voice small enough that Jeongyeon would’ve pitied the girl if pity was something she felt for people.

“I know what my people know to be true.” She offered, followed by a silence between the two before Mina broke it.

“Can you tell me what your people know?” 

Jeongyeon didn’t know what she could gain from telling Mina, but she certainly had nothing to lose. What more can she lose at this point anyway? All she has now is her honor, and sharing that with someone who sees her to be dishonorable could be a good way to keep it close, as it could very well be the last thing she has to hold on to. 

Jeongyeon stood up and held a hand out for Mina to take, an offer to help the woman up from her place. 

When their palms touched, Jeongyeon held back a his from the icy feeling on her flesh and, instead, continued with the task she had set out to do. Mina’s skin felt searing under the heat of Jeongyeon’s touch, and her breathing grew ragged as her heart pounded so loud it resonated in her ear drums like a mighty clap of thunder.

She’s never much been keen to the sound of thunder. 

Jeongyeon walked toward the wall of rocks that made their way up to the path with benches and sat back down beside an especially large rock. 

“Many many years ago,” Jeongyeon muttered, snapping her fingers and conjuring a flame from the tips. She spread her hand out until the flame danced its way around to her palm, casting a warm shadow on the rock behind it. “My people were humans who worshipped the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece. They lived together and loved everyone who showed them kindness.” The shadow cast formed into a group of women walking, and the flamed morphed, until it showed them bowing down and giving offerings to the Gods and Goddesses. 

“However, after thousands of years of existing alongside the men who respected them and treated them as equal, they had been put up for trial and slain for their religious beliefs.” The women who seemed happy and prosperous in the shadow were suddenly burst into flames against the rock. “As punishment, the men were visited by a Goddess,” From the flames came the sillhouette of a Godly being with long hair and eyes filled with pain, “Saying that their line was cursed to emit the same ice that lined their hearts for the rest of eternity.” The shadow of the woman fell over men who bowed down to her, and their hands froze to the ground, striking them with terror as they tried to free themselves. 

Mina’s throat was tight, and she held in a sob, stopping tears from falling down her cold, pink cheeks. “How did your people come back about?” She asked, voice hoarse from fighting off sobs. 

Jeongyeon moved her hands, and the Goddess stood again, this time beside a man, whose eyes were filled with rage. 

“Upon seeing the Goddess’ punishment, a God grew angry with her and punished her by putting a curse on the bloodline of every woman who lived in that village, making them relive the pain of their people’s deaths all over again, every day for the rest of their existence.” The shadows morphed to infants on fire, and toddlers running around with flames coming from their hands and feet. “Eventually, the women adapted and evolved,” Jeongyeon explained as the flames danced again, and the toddler grew into a strong warrior who could conjure flames from her hands at will. “And they learned to use the abilities to their advantage.” 

“And they’ve been at war ever since?” Mina asked, a single tear falling from her right eye, sticking to the edge in the form of an icicle. 

Jeongyeon took the flame down and turned to look Mina in the eyes, feeling her chest ache at the tear. She reached forward and touched her thumb to it, making it melt in an instant. She swept the tear away and smiled at her through the silvery-blue light of the full moon. 

“Our people have always been at war.” Jeongyeon admitted sadly, “But we can stop that with us.” 

“Where did the sudden desire to end the war come from?” Mina asked in confusion, and Jeongyeon sighed before turning to the water again. 

“Maybe I’m sick of being driven by rage and war.”


	9. "I Thought We Didn't Do That."

Jihyo stood in the middle of the empty room, seemingly underwhelmed with it as she laid eyes upon it. There was just a small table in the middle of the old, rickety building, a stack of books on it, coated in a thin layer of dust. 

"This is it?" Asked Sana, speaking the very words Jihyo thought but didn't dare utter. 

"This is it." Chungha shrugged before turning away and smiling over her shoulder. "I'll be outside if you need me, but for now, just…" Her eyes flickered between the girls, and then to every corner of the room, "Focus on what you need most." She offered before disappearing behind the wooden door, making Jihyo scoff before plopping into the wooden chair. 

"We can't get discouraged now, Hyo." Sana assured, resting her hands on the girl's shoulders in reassurance as they looked through the sad stack of small, useless American encyclopedias. "With magic," Sana muttered as she opened up a book, "everything's… possible." She tilted her head, then the book, when she realized all the pages were blank. 

Sana hummed curiously before flipping the book from the beginning to the end, only for every page to be blank. 

"What's wrong with this book?" She asked before turning it upside down in her palms to show her companion, whose eyes washed over the blank parchment with intrigue. 

"You can't see it?" Jihyo asked the human, whose eyes flashed up in amazement. 

"You can?!" Sana exclaimed, making the Quizmaster smile to herself, something Sana hasn't witnessed much of.

She stroked her fingers over the text and inhaled before speaking out the words on the page, a language reserved only for Quizmaster witches spilling from her lips in the form of a low, echoing tone, one only a Quizmaster can replicate. 

Its translation?

"By the fates, the oracles and what the moon and sun allow, I beg that Athena grants me the wisdom I desire." 

The chant was said, and before the eyes of the two women, the room expanded, and from the walls sprouted big oak shelves of books that lined them, dust covered, coated with cobwebs as though the books had never moved, never been touched. 

"Wow!" Sana gasped in wonder as she looked around, watching as the ceiling expanded wondrously, structures and statues carving themselves into the corners of the building, pillars building themselves up to the ceiling, larger than life. 

From the ground they stood on crumbled stairs on top of each other, meeting the next story elegantly, begging Sana to run up enthusiastically. 

"Sana, wait!" Jihyo squeaked in worry upon the human's first few steps, but once she has half way up, Jihyo chanced a step, then another, until she was following Sana around the second story of the large, dusty library. The two looked up, and around in every direction, unable to find an end to the rows upon rows of books. 

"How are we supposed to find what we're looking for in all this?" Jihyo asked, distraught at the feeling that they'd never find what they were looking for. 

Sana grinned before running up to another set of stairs and going up them. 

"Where are you going?" Jihyo asked, rolling her eyes as she ran after her friend. 

"I don't know, I just have a feeling we'll find what we're looking for up here!" She shouted as she ran across the floor to another staircase, which lead to a long strip of hallways that all went every which way, lacing over one another with railings attached, like bridges all leading to a different part of the library. 

In the middle laid a round platform that rose off the paths by a foot, so Sana stood upon it, and as though by magic, it glowed beneath her boots, a bright blue color, almost blinding as Jihyo huffed up the stairs. 

"Sana no!" She screamed, lunging at her friend, but when her hands breached the space over the platform, her body was thrust back, into the railing as Sana's flesh glowed that same bright blue color. 

"What's happening?" Sana asked, voice small as she looked around at her hands, and down at Jihyo, eyes filled with fear and begging her companion for help. 

The light rushed through Sana's body like a shiver, erupting through her veins and kissing her nerves like ice and fire melding within her bloodstream. 

Suddenly, Sana's head began to ache and spin and shake all at once. Her eyes grew heavy in their sockets, and something rang in the very depths of her ear drums.

"Oh, mighty, warrior, if you have found the wit to discover these archives, they have been left to you and your people." Whispered the ringing in her head, "Only those with your blood may witness its excellence. Knowledge is the biggest power in the world, use your new power wisely."

Sana fell to the ground when the light and sound released her, chest heaving and jzforehead laced with sweat as she caught her breath. 

"Are you okay?" Jihyo asked, scrambling to see to Sana's safety. 

"I-I think they thought I was you." The human stammered, lifting herself up with great effort. 

"What makes you think that?" Jihyo asked, grunting as she helped Sana to her feet.

"I think it expected that the person smart enough to read the book would also be the one smart enough to stand up there." She groaned, brushing the dust off her knees before stretching the muscles in her back. "It said only my bloodline can access the archives." 

"So do you think it's talking about my bloodline?" Jihyo asked, making Sana shrug. 

"It makes sense to me." 

Once the two were back on their feet, they looked around at the books in search of some kind of system they could make sense of. 

"Now that we're past that extremely terrifying experience…" Jihyo sighed, "what exactly are we looking for?" 

As soon as the question escaped her lips, the script on the spine of every book in sight began to glow, the letters floating around and mingling with one another as though joining in on an intricate performance, waltzing and swinging in time to the songs of their own tales. 

… 

“Is there a reason you’re sitting out here by yourself?” Asked Momo of the tallest witch, whose legs dangled over the edge of the dock, watching as the water washed over itself in a one-woman waltz under a blanket of stars reflecting back onto it. 

“I’m just so far away from everything I’ve ever known.” Tzuyu sighed, looking down at her feet as they swung, just barely missing the small waves as they twirled and spun about beneath her. “I know they said I’m supposed to be a part of some prophecy, but I didn’t realize that entailed leaving my home and…” She looked up at the creature sheepishly, scratching her neck nervously. 

“Watching someone get killed?” Momo finished inquisitive, making Tzuyu sigh. 

“I’m from a world of happiness, and peace. I grew up in a place where people greeted one another with a smile and a warm place to sleep.” She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged her knees, resting her chin between them as she watched the clouds wash over the moon. “Even death in my world is peaceful.” 

It was silent for a moment as Momo and Tzuyu sat, each having their own things to say, each not having much of the courage it takes to say it. 

Momo sighed before turning around to sit back to back against Tzuyu, feeling the warmth of the nature witch against her, igniting a sense of easiness all over her senses. 

“I’ve been like this for over a thousand years.” Momo muttered to herself, hugging her knees in the same way Tzuyu did. “All I’ve ever known is loss, and pain. Wandering around aimlessly and repeating the same pattern, expecting that the one person I put my trust in will prove to be different.” Tzuyu heard Momo sniffle, and rather than moving, or turning around, she took one of Momo’s hands from her knees and held it between them tightly. “I’ve been forced to do things that would drive some people to insanity, and I’ve lost more things in my lifetime than most have ever even acquired in theirs.” Her voice cracked as she remembered all the pain, all the loss she’s experienced. “People think that living forever is amazing and beautiful, but it’s a curse. After a while, time stops making sense, and the days pass by like weeks, or months, or hours even.” She took her unoccupied hand and wiped her tears away. “Being here is the safest I’ve ever felt, and the thought that I would be so compelled to leave, with everything I had going for me…” She sniffled again, “It doesn’t make any sense.” 

Tzuyu looked over her shoulder at last, seeing the way Momo’s eyes leaked and her body trembled in an attempt to hold in any sobs she felt coming, and decided to turn beside Momo. She wrapped her arm around the shorter woman, pulling her close and allowing the creature to lean against her shoulder. 

“I don’t want to kill.” Momo whimpered softly, making Tzuyu’s heart tighten. “I can’t help that I’m a monster, and after so long, you just grow numb to the effects of your actions.” 

“You’re not a monster, Momo.” Tzuyu promised, holding the girl even closer, as though to protect her in some strange way. “You can’t help your instincts.”

Momo sniffled softly, looking down at her feet in pain as her brain washed over all the horrific deeds she’s done and tried her hardest to forget. 

“I hope you’re right.” She admitted sadly. 

… 

“None of these books actually have what we need. All I’ve gained from this experience is a papercut.” Jihyo complained, tossing the fifteenth book off to the side as Sana read her third book intently. The title of the book read ‘Expansion Of The Witch’s Mind.’ in big gold lettering, and Jihyo rolled her eyes. 

“This isn’t the time for casual reading, Sana.” Jihyo complained, and Sana looked up from her book excitedly. 

“This book says here that memory reading is one of the rarest abilities in a mind witch.” The human grinned, and Jihyo rose a brow. 

“That book has nothing to do with my mom.” Jihyo stated in confusion, making Sana hum. 

“The first book I picked up was on nine-tailed foxes.” She explained, picking up the book and handing it to Jihyo, who looked at it for a moment before setting it down on the table. She picked up the most recent book on her pile before handing it to Sana. “‘The Ancient Art and Practice of Curanderismo?’” Sana read out loud, “Dahyun said she practices this.” She hummed before opening it, and Jihyo hummed before going back to the pile of books that had been presented to her. 

“You two seem close. Tzuyu said you were talking before you all got here.” She recalled, causing Sana to shrug. 

“It’s just nice to feel normal around someone for once, instead of being the weird human nobody likes.” She admitted, flipping through a book titled, ‘The History Of Quizmaster.’ 

“I like you.” Jihyo offered with a frown, “And it seems to me that Nayeon likes you plenty.” 

“Yeah…” Sana sighed, “But it’s different with her. I’m like her, and it feels nice, having someone around who is like me for the first time in my life.” 

It was silent for a moment, until Jihyo picked up another book from her pile. 

‘The History of the Messenger Coven.’ 

“You should take this to give to your girlfriend.” Jihyo grinned before handing the book to her companion, who blushed before putting it off to the side to take with her. 

“I’m not so sure she’s my girlfriend.” Sana grinned, pulling a book in front of her face to hide her smile. 

“This adventure isn’t quite over yet.” Jihyo suggested, “You shouldn’t give up.” 

“Yeah, well after what happened earlier, I’m not so sure I’m good for her.” She closed the book and put it in the unwanted pile solemnly before picking up another book. 

“That kiss earlier tells me something completely different.” Jihyo rose a brow, and Sana sighed. 

“I don’t know, Hyo, I’ve never been good with people. Books are easier.” She pulled her knees into herself, tucking her feet against the seat of the chair as she held the book around her legs. “It’s all written out for you, waiting to be discovered.” 

“Has it ever occurred to you that people are the same way?” Jihyo inquired, “The human mind is just a book waiting to be opened. Thoughts are just narration, and feelings are just ideas waiting to be interpreted.” Jihyo’s eyes had a light in them that Sana has never seen before. She turned to the fresh pile of books again before picking up another book. 

‘The Unseen Magic of Space and Time.’ 

“These books are getting more and more obscure.” Jihyo scoffed before throwing the book behind her in slight rage, only for the book to hit a shelf, causing one more book to fall. 

She stood up curiously and bent down to look at the book, reading the cover out loud. 

“‘The History of Oracle Bay.’” 

… 

Dahyun walked through the buildings in the town, watching as Nayeon talked with whatever townspeople were still out. She thanked the citizen and patted her son on the head before turning back to Dahyun with a smile. 

“You have a way with people.” Dahyun complimented as they made their way through the small town. 

“It’s our coven’s purpose.” Nayeon admitted, “From an early age, we’re taught to communicate and make people feel comfortable.” 

“Why is that?” Dahyun asked in confusion. 

“For millenia, the job of a messenger witch has been to teleport between worlds to bring news and send messages to all sorts of different species of creatures. In order to do this, we had to learn to get along and align with every type of person, human or not.” She explained with a soft smile, causing Dahyun to do the same. 

“I see how you and Sana balance each other now.” The human hummed, making Nayeon raise a brow. 

“How so?” 

“Well,” Dahyun hummed, “a girl who hasn’t been anywhere and is solidified by the world she’s built for herself has found wonder in someone who’s been everywhere and who’s seen everything.” She pointed out, “It seems you’ve found something in one another that you didn’t realize you were missing.” 

“And what was I missing?” Asked Nayeon, making the human shrug. 

“I was thinking maybe you could tell me.” Dahyun prompted, to which the messenger hummed. 

“Sana isn’t what everyone thinks she is.” Nayeon admitted. “I’m not sure she’s human, but if she is, then the hope she has in her heart is more magical than the very pit of the Spiritus Forest.” Dahyun noticed the way Nayeon’s eyes grew distant as she spoke about Sana. “She has so much spirit, and wonder, being around her is…” She sighed, “It makes me no longer fear mortality, because dying with the satisfaction of having met someone as special as her is a peaceful death. One I’d welcome if I wasn’t so greedy.” 

This was strange to Dahyun, seeing someone so fond of another person after having only just met her, but she understood exactly what she met, because deep down, the way Nayeon had described Sana was something Dahyun felt at the very pit of her heart. 

It was a feeling both eerily familiar and painfully foreign, so far away that lost upon her, though she felt that it was at the very tip of her tongue, and that she could almost taste it if she closed her eyes and thought hard enough. 

“Do you love her?” Dahyun asked in concern, and Nayeon exhaled breathlessly, stopping in her tracks and looking forward, face haunted with the notion of something Dahyun couldn’t understand. 

“I hope not.” 

… 

Sana and Jihyo ran out of the library, hauling books in their hands and struggling not to drop them as the library formed back to its single solitary room just before the door closed behind them. 

They ran back to the docks, just in time, as Sana could see Nayeon and Dahyun walking toward them from the village, and Jihyo saw Jeongyeon and Mina walking back together, followed by Chaeyoung, who was a few meters back, one her way out of the wooded area. 

“That’s a lot of books.” Nayeon pointed out to Sana, holding her hands out to take a few to help stop Sana’s struggle to hold the ten books in her arms. 

“I may have gotten carried away.” Sana blushed, causing Nayeon to giggle. Of course Sana would get excited over books and try to take the whole library home with her. 

“It’s going to rain.” Momo spoke up, sniffing the air in front of her before walking around everyone and heading back toward the row of benches on the hill. She walked to the very edge, and others followed as she looked down to a hole in the ground at the edge, filled with muddy water. The creature took off Chaeyoung’s jacket and handed it to the silent woman as she walked up, before removing her pants, leaving her in her bloody bra and underwear. 

“What are you doing?” Nayeon asked in confusion, but it was ignored in favor of Momo holding her hands over her head and using her muscular legs to jump in the air, changing form on her way down, diving into the little puddle in a flash of black fur. 

“W-was that an otter?” Tzuyu asked in confusion. 

“You’re the animal expert.” Jeongyeon whispered as Mina and Jihyo looked in the puddle, looking for the girl in wonder. 

Suddenly, the water drained, and from the whole emerged Momo, a smile on her face bigger than any smile Jihyo has been able to witness from the creature. She reached a hand out to Jihyo, who seemed skeptical for a moment, hugging her single book to her chest. 

“Trust me.” Momo smiled, and Jihyo rose a brow. 

“I thought we didn’t do that.” 

“We don’t.” The creature winked, and Jihyo sighed before taking Momo’s hand with her unoccupied one. Jihyo sat on the edge of the whole and dipped her legs inside, causing the nine tailed fox to pull her close with her arms. Her feet were planted on either side of the tunnel-like hole, holding them up. Finally, she closed her legs, and the two began to drop down, making Jihyo let out a scream of terror, but before she could finish it, they were standing on level ground, and Jihyo was clinging to the fox, who giggled at her. 

Jihyo stepped away from Momo with a grunt before looking around at their new location, stricken by awe. 

Beneath their feet was water, flowing and standing still at the same time, magically holding them up as they walked. Every wall was also water, a cool, clear blue color that could be seen through, and Jihyo gasped in awe when she saw the animals, magical and non-magical alike, swimming around the outside of the room. Jihyo placed her hand against the clear wall and was shocked when her hand came up wet, as though she had just put it in the river and taken it out. Her paper cut from earlier had vanished before her eyes, giving Jihyo the confirmation that this dwelling was in the middle of Oracle Bay.

“This is incredible!” Tzuyu gasped once she finally dropped to the bottom, followed by Nayeon and Jeongyeon, who orbed in as Sana tumbled down the tube and landed on her backside with a yelp. 

“This world is capable of wonderful things.” Momo admitted as she turned to a door, the first thing made from the entire house that wasn’t water. The wall connected to the door was made of water so dark it couldn’t be seen through. “I trust you can conjure anything you need for the night.” She finished before opening the door and slipping behind, leaving everyone to the rest of the dwelling. 

Momo sighed as she laid her head against the door, closing her eyes and gaining her bearings before walking to her bed in the corner of the room, comprised of sticks and twigs and pine needles taken from the trees and ground in the area. There was a single blanket, the same one she recalls wrapping her children in before it was time to sleep. It was just the way she remembers, a smaller bed made up of the same things beside it, a stuffed dog cast to the side, having had enough room for her daughter to have laid. 

Tears spilled from Momo’s eyes as she picked up the dog and collapsed to her knees, holding it close and holding it to her nose. She inhaled the scent, and felt a sob wrack through her body as the sight of her baby flashed across her mind. She hunched over the toy and cried into it, hoping the fabric would muffle her wails of pain. 

… 

“That was weird, wasn’t it?” Jihyo asked in confusion as she turned to Tzuyu, who frowned. 

“She had an exhausting day.” She excused, “She probably just needs some sleep.” 

“Jihyo, look what Mina did!” Sana said excitedly, pointing to a large rectangular brick of ice in the middle of the room, the books from the library already sitting atop it. Jihyo excused herself from Tzuyu to take a look at the books, leaving the nature witch to her own thoughts, which lead straight to a certain necromancer, who sat on the floor in the furthest corner from any soul, eyes swollen, face neutral. 

“Where’d you run off to?” Tzuyu asked kindly as she sat across from the shortest witch.

“Don’t worry about it.” She grumbled, and Tzuyu rose a brow. 

“Is everything okay?” 

“Is it ever okay, Tzuyu?” Chaeyoung snapped, causing Tzuyu to wince before shrugging it off. 

“I just want to make sure you’re okay.” She mumbled, to which Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. 

“Why do you care so much?” She inquired rhetorically, but Tzuyu answered anyway. 

“Everyone deserves to have someone care about them.” She assured, placing her hand over the girl’s knee, only for it to get pushed away. 

“Every person I’ve ever cared about has been killed.” Chaeyoung whimpered before standing up to hide her tears. 

“This place is so neat!” Dahyun grinned, bracing her hand against a wall to lean, only to fall through it, into the water. 

As Dahyun thrashed around in the water, looking for something to hang onto, unable to see through the water to get back to the dwelling, she felt her mind going cloudy. She felt her eyes flutter closed, and before she knew it, she was slipping out of consciousness. 

“Forgive me, my love.” Echoed in Dahyun’s head over and over again, that same voice she so dreamt of forever. 

A face flashed across her mind, and she gasped when she looked at that smile, and all the memories flooded back to her. 

From fighting along Yerim’s side, to holding her close as she cried over a lost friend, to making love to her, to being hers, to… 

Having a child with her. 

To dying. 

Every ounce of pain, every inch of broken skin, every cut and bruise and strike of pure, white hot pain being shot up her spine. 

Though, in this moment, reliving the physical pain was nowhere near as paralyzing as knowing that, this whole time, she had a child whom had lived without her for her whole life. 

The next thing Dahyun remembers is waking up in the rocks, soaking wet as Chaeyoug performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her. 

She coughed up the water and gasped as she darted into the sitting position, eyes searching for Jihyo, who was standing a few feet away. 

“I remember everything!” Dahyun gasped, fumbling to her feet and running toward Jihyo, who seemed confused. “I-I’m Hoseok.” She admitted, taking Jihyo’s hands in hers, “And you’re my daughter.”


	10. "You're Like Me."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanks for 1k reads! i'm so happy you guys are enjoying this book as much as I enjoy writing it. be sure to follow my twitter, @lvelyeon and tell me what you think there, or in the comments!

"This new development proves promising." Mina observed as she assessed Dahyun from the far corner of Momo's home. 

"So…" Jihyo trailed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head from where she sat on the makeshift ice table. "Do I call you mom or dad?" Jihyo asked, making Dahyun chuckle as she pulled the blanket Chungha brought over her shoulders. 

"Wait…" Sana seemed confused from her place by her genius companion. "If Dahyun is your dad, who is the man from the library?" 

Jihyo seemed deep in thought for a moment, pondering the answer to the question deeply. 

"Maybe he was keeping secrets from me." She mumbled with a shrug. Maybe he was so awful because he didn't actually care about me." 

It was silent for a moment, nobody quite knowing what to say, before Tzuyu spoke up from beside Chaeyoung, who sat in another corner, curled up in a blanket after having saved Dahyun. 

"Maybe we should work on reading this book. We can ask all the questions we need when we find Jihyo's mom and get back to our realm." She suggested, and Sana grinned before standing up dutifully. 

"Tzuyu is right!" She exclaimed, leaning against the cold table to open the book. She scanned through the words, Jihyo beside her and Jeongyeon and Nayeon looking over their shoulders as the two read the book. 

"Is there something here we should know about?" Jeongyeon asked in confusion, eyes searching the blank page for any sign of literature. 

Jihyo continued reading, but Jeongyeon's words caught Sana off guard, and she turned in wonder to look at the girls over her shoulder. 

"Y-you can't see it?" She asked, her chest tightening at the idea of being able to do something most of her magical companions cannot. 

"I can." Nayeon shrugged, "But a part of being a messenger is being able to read all texts, to translate and relay them to others." She explained, eyes falling upon Sana for a moment, unbeknownst to the human who seemed stricken with pure joy. She ran her fingers over the windy lettering and felt the way the words vibrated from the age, through the tips of her fingers. For the first time in Sana's life, she could finally say she had magic at her fingertips.

"Wow." Sana laughed, a tear falling down her face, filling Nayeon's heart with pure, unadulterated happiness. 

Of course Sana was special. 

Nayeon never had a doubt in her mind about it. 

"This must be an effect of what happened in the library." Jihyo rationalized, much to Sana's sadness.

"Right." Sana looked down sadly, trying to keep smiling despite the pain of, once again, not being special. "That must be it." She chuckled sadly before getting back to the book in front of her.

Nayeon decided to rummage through the books Sana brought back, taking a look at each title, stopping at the second to last book. 

"'The Book of the Oracle?'" Nayeon asked, looking up at the two girls who read the book in front of them. Sana looked up from their book in confusion. 

"I don't remember seeing a book with that title." Sana hummed, and Jihyo's eyes grew distant as she moved them to assess the script in Nayeon's hands. 

"It looks like a journal." Nayeon admitted as she flipped through the pages of the leather book. She looked up from the book at Jihyo, "I-I think this is your mom's." 

Jihyo moved from Sana's side to Nayeon, who presented the closed book to her, a serious glint in her eyes. 

Jihyo took it, and felt her heart clench in her chest at the feeling of the magic coursing from the book to her hands. 

"This was in your pile?" Jihyo asked, looking over her shoulder at Sana, who seemed confused. 

"No, I-I don't remember seeing it at all." She stammered, and Jihyo smiled before moving around the table to hug Sana, who was caught off guard by the affectionate display. 

She heard Jihyo sniffle, and pulled away to look at the Quizmaster, whose eyes were spilling, a soft smile on her lips. 

"I know you didn't mean to, but thank you." Jihyo whispered, earning a warm smile from Sana, who pulled her close again, revelling in this feeling. 

This feeling unlike anything she's ever felt.

"I'd do anything for you, Hyo." Sana whispered, every ounce of sincerity in her voice as she held her companion close. 

"You're the first real friend I've ever had." Jihyo whispered, and Sana found her own tears trickling down her cheeks. 

"You're the only friend I've ever had." 

"You guys are so dramatic." Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, breaking the two out of their moment. Nayeon elbowed her best friend in annoyance for her outburst. 

"Right…" Jihyo cleared her throat and wiped her tears as she pulled away, embarrassed by her own antics. "Let's get to work." She suggested before leaning against the wall beside the door of Momo's room to read. 

"Sana, Nayeon and I will read these and tell you the gist, since there's so much to read." She offered, "Go ahead and get some sleep if you can. I know today was a lot." 

It wasn't long before everyone was curled up in different corners of the room, Tzuyu still only a few feet away from Chaeyoung, who hasn't spoken much, especially since she got back from saving Dahyun.

It wasn't long before silence overtook the room, Mina lying in one corner of the room, Jeongyeon lying in another, complaining about how much she hates water while Sana and Nayeon used the table to read the book together, Dahyun seated across from Jihyo, assessing her lovingly as she read the work of the love of Dahyun's life, both past and present. 

Chaeyoung sighed as insomnia overtook her once again, relenting to it and deciding to get some air. 

She stood under the tube and leapt up until she was standing under a blanket of stars, gazing up at the moon. 

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tzuyu asked out of nowhere, making Chaeyoung jump, startled at the sudden interruption.

"Jesus! We need to put a bell on you." Chaeyoung grunted, stepping away from the nature witch to sit on the bench, looking out at the calm waves, counting the reflection of the stars shining off the water as a way to distract her mind from the gaping hole in her chest.

Tzuyu sat on the opposite side and looked out at the edge of the town, sighing to herself. 

Despite Tzuyu's silence, something about her presence spoke more than words ever could, making Chaeyoung painfully aware of the fact that she couldn't be ignored. 

"Can't sleep?" Chaeyoung asked, hoping Tzuyu would appreciate the gesture but answer rhetorically.

But alas, Chaeyoung never gets what Chaeyoung wants. 

She's known that for centuries, but still, her mind insists upon wanting. 

Wanting life.

Wanting someone.

Wanting love. 

Wanting death. 

"I uh…" Tzuyu chuckled softly, "I'm used to sleeping in Spiritus." 

"Spiritus…" Chaeyoung tasted the word, a familiar one that she couldn't help but want to hear again. "Spiritus… is that where you live?" 

"Yeah…" Tzuyu smiled, pulling her knees to her chest. "It's where I was born. Where I spent my entire life." 

"What's it like there?" Chaeyoung asked, finding comfort in the company of this strange witch. 

Or maybe a part of her just wanted to know what kind of world could breed someone like Tzuyu.

"It's…" She shook her head with a smile, resting her chin on her knees. "...beautiful." She sighed, "Nothing like that Gods-awful city. Full of life and wonder, all the people living in peace without the desire for war or tyranny." 

"Why were you in the middle of that battlefield then?" Chaeyoung asked in confusion, pulling her knees up to her chest and mimicking Tzuyu's position.

"I was trying to save my coven." She admitted before turning her head to look at the death witch. "What about you? What were you doing?" 

Chaeyoung had two options.

She could give Tzuyu some snide comment and insult her before storming off. 

Or she could have the common decency to hear out this girl who, more likely than not, isn't sleeping because of the very thing Chaeyoung is submerged in. 

Death. 

"My abilities aren't just basic 'bring-you-back-to-life' incantations." She admitted, "Every soul that is lost… every time a life is taken, I feel it." She looked away from the tallest witch, not ready to let someone see her cry again. 

Not after what happened to the last person to see me cry.

"In something as painful and tragic as war, there are so many lost lives that I must be in the midst, so to help guide safe passage to the afterlife for wandering souls." 

"That sounds…" Tzuyu trailed off, unsure of the word to pinpoint just how devastating it was. 

"Lonely?" Chaeyoung asked with a scoff, and Tzuyu just looked down. 

"I'm sure you and your…girlfriend have made do." She tried kindly, opening the floodgates of Chaeyoung's chest, tears spilling from her eyes faster than she could wipe them away.

"We did." She sniffled, catching Tzuyu's attention. "For a really long time, we did." 

Tzuyu slid on the bench, closer to the fragile girl, until their shoulders were against one another.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Tzuyu assured, gripping the bench between her knees and looking out at the water, knowing by now not to try and look Chaeyoung in the eyes while she cries. "But I'm here." She promised, placing her hand on the necromancer's knee.

Chaeyoung would never admit it, but she was thankful for the witch beside her. 

She was happy the girl was beside her, and she wondered for a moment how she would've handled it if she was out here alone.

"Y'know," Chaeyoung sniffled, "when I jumped in that water after Dahyun, I wondered," She inhaled shakily, "I hoped that it would heal my broken heart." She admitted, shaking her head with a sad laugh. "Now, I just feel empty." 

Tzuyu frowned and turned to meet Chaeyoung's eyes, despite her mind telling her not to. 

"I don't know what happened, but-" 

"She's gone." Chaeyoung whimpered, interrupting her companion. "She's gone, and it's my fault, and there's nothing I can do about it." 

"Who?" Tzuyu asked sadly, her chest aching at the sight of this witch and her devastation.

Chaeyoung couldn't bring herself to say that name out loud. She couldn't will herself to say it again after the events of the day. 

Instead, she leaned in to hug Tzuyu, who wrapped her arms around her immediately, as though it was what she'd wanted to do all this time. 

Because it was. 

Tzuyu ran her fingers through Chaeyoung's short, blonde locks and hushed her while she rocked back and forth to calm the sobs racking through the poor girl's body. 

Sobs that made Tzuyu aware of two things. 

One being that those were the sobs of someone in mourning. 

The other?

Tzuyu would never let Chaeyoung feel lonely again.

… 

Jihyo's eyes were beginning to dry out about half way through the journal, stinging as they trekked along each page, memorizing her mother's prose and genius, allowing the calligraphy to engrave itself into the back of her mind. 

"Guys… guys!" Jihyo called out, waking everyone who was alseep and catching the attention of the witches outside. Jihyo stood up and placed the book on the table to read from it as everyone stirred and gathered, including Momo, whose eyes were red and swollen.

"I think I found the original prophecy." Jihyo exclaimed once Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had made their way to the table. 

"Good, because we haven’t found anything useful at all." Nayeon admitted before pushing the book aside to give Jihyo her undivided attention, other than her hand holding Sana's behind the table, out of sight of everyone, other than Jeongyeon and Dahyun, who each had differing opinions on the display of affection. 

Jihyo's eyes raced along the jagged writing of the last scribed pages in her mother's journal and she inhaled to begin reading.

"'Fate tells me of the times to come, a time where nine women will change the world as we know it. Nine women who bring balance to one another, and who have the power to absolve the powers at be of their greed. Nine women who must put their grudges aside and come together to fix the injustices and revolutionize the magical world." 

"Nine?" Asked Nayeon in confusion, "Every document I've ever seen says seven. We would know if something like that was left out." 

"Yerim left one out when she was writing it out for the messenger witches, just to ensure the governing witches wouldn't figure out that the last one was ours." Dahyun spoke up, and Jihyo's head swam with the new knowledge.

"I-I'm in this prophecy?" She asked in wonder, and Dahyun frowned. 

"You should keep reading." 

Jihyo's eyes danced over the notes in the margins, an eerily familiar list meeting her lips. 

"'A witch born from death.'" Everyone looked at Chaeyoung, who rolled her eyes and looked down at her hands.

"'A woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.'" Jihyo read, and everyone looked around at one another, unsure of who it was, until Nayeon spoke up. 

"That's Jeongyeon." She assumed, and everyone seemed to agree. 

Everyone, that is, but Jeongyeon, who scoffed and rolled her eyes, but remained silent despite herself.

"'A woman who could never trust.'" 

Everybody looked at Momo, who shrugged, knowing she was the obvious answer. 

"'A witch who had enough humanity in her heart to change the world.'"

Chaeyoung bumped her shoulder against Tzuyu's, to wich the girl blushed down at her hands as they fidgeted in her lap. 

"'A witch who wasn't born a witch.'" 

The room was silent for a moment before Sana found eyes straying in her direction, and tears welled in her eyes as she thought about those implications.

She was one of them. 

She was a witch, be it from birth or not.

She was special. 

Sana was-

"I guess Dahyun isn't so bad after all." Jeongyeon grumbled, snapping Sana out of her internal celebration. 

"Dahyun?" Sana asked, and Dahyun spoke up as well. 

"Me?" She scoffed, and Momo shrugged. 

"You have to be really special to capture the heart of the oldest oracle in history." She rationalized, and Dahyun smiled, though Sana wasn't sure if it was genuine. 

Why wouldn't Dahyun want to be special?

Jihyo sighed and cleared her throat before continuing.

"'A witch whose biggest power was being underestimated.'"

Jeongyeon's eyes immediately fell to Mina, who caught it and held a meaningful gaze with the fire witch. 

"'A witch whose sacrifice would never go unrecognized.'" 

Everyone looked around in slight confusion, a deep, harsh atmosphere hitting everyone in the room. Instead of waiting for someone to be pointed out, Jihyo continued. 

"'A witch whose biggest weapon is her heart.'" 

Jeongyeon, Dahyun, Jihyo and Sana all looked at Nayeon, who frowned and looked down to her lap, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sana. 

Then again, most things don't go unnoticed by Sana lately. 

"That was only eight." Mina pointed out, to which Jihyo responded. 

"The last one just says 'Jihyo.'" 

Her name was circled jaggedly in red ink three or four times. 

"So, obviously Jihyo's was taken out, but who took out the one about sacrifice?" Asked Chaeyoung, and Jihyo eyed Sana strangely.

"What if Sana is the missing piece?" Jihyo asked, to which Jeongyeon scoffed. 

"Don't be stupid. It says that the sacrifice is a witch." She assured, "It's not Sana."

"I didn't expect to be so hurt being ruled out as a sacrifice." Sana mumbled, and despite the serious tone, Nayeon giggled. 

"I'm glad you're not a witch if it means ruling you out of sacrifice." She jested before planting a kiss on Sana's cheek. 

"Maybe that lady from earlier knows where to find our last puzzle piece." Chaeyoung suggested, and Momo hummed before standing up. 

"Good idea, we'll go talk to her." 

"It's like… five in the morning." Sana scolded, only for Momo to give her a weird look over her shoulder at the human before holding out a hand to help Jihyo to her feet, which were numb from being seated for so long. 

"Time works differently in Oracle Bay." She grinned, pulling Jihyo to the entrance by her free hand. They slithered out of the hole in the ground, and the last person - Jeongyeon - crawled out just as the sky started turning orange.

"Thank God…" Jeongyeon shuttered, shaking her limbs free. "I hate water." 

Nayeon giggled from behind her friend before taking a handful of water from the hole and splashing it on Jeongyeon, who squeaked in response before turning to the messenger with a glare. 

Cute, thought a certain ice witch who watched the show from behind the group with a small smile on her lips. 

Momo lead the way, tugging Jihyo by one hand while the other held her mother's book close to her chest.

They found themselves in the docks again, waiting as Momo unlocked one of the boathouse doors and disappeared behind it. 

"Look!" Mina whispered to Tzuyu excitedly, and when Tzuyu turned her head to look, she was met with three little creatures. One was a shaggy looking pup who barked and played with a small monkey who whimpered and squacked as the two wrestled, while another creature watched. 

The other creature was small and blue with a head bigger than its body and a thick coat of fur coating every part of his chihuahua sized body, aside from the two horns on his head and the two little bat wings on his shoulders. He had big, green, human-like eyes that took over half his face, a bright orange nose the size of a button and one tooth sticking out of each side of his mouth. 

"A whisper dragon." Tzuyu mumbled, awestruck, and Jeongyeon spoke up. 

"Dragons have been extinct for like, a thousand years." She scoffed. 

"I guess he must be the last of his kind." 

"He's so cute!" Dahyun grinned, hunching down and sticking her hand out for the creature to sniff, as though he was a dog.

However, it seemed more that he was like a cat, because once he sniffed the hand, he rubbed against it, then wrapped around her leg. 

"He likes you." Tzuyu smiled, hunching down to look at the creature, who purred like a cat and rubbed his head against Tzuyu's hand. 

"What's his name?" She asked, and the creature walked around to face her, sitting down and swinging his little pointy tail behind him as he looked her in the eyes. 

"I'm Charlie." Uttered the creature, and Dahyun's eyes went wide in awe. 

"Whoa! Dragons talk?!" She asked in excitement, catching the attention of the other eight girls. 

"Only to the ones they imprint on." Tzuyu hummed, "What did he say?" 

"He told me his name." Dahyun admitted before looking at him again. "How old are you?" 

He tilted his head to the side and continued purring as though he had never spoken. 

"They generally only speak when they have something to warn you about." Tzuyu explained, "Whisper Dragons faught alongside my people before we came to peace. They work as familiars, shape shifting into convenient animals and spying to come back and warn their imprinted what they've learned, so to protect them." Everyone watched as Charlie's eyes followed the monkey who was running around, then as he changed form to look like the monkey, then the dog before turning back to his original form.

"It's like another Momo!" Nayeon giggled, and Jeongyeon spoke up. 

"Only slightly less cute." Charlie hissed at Jeongyeon's words, and the fire witch hissed back playfully, the flame inside her soul igniting in her eyes, making the the creature whimper like a kicked puppy, hiding behind Dahyun's legs. 

Tzuyu ignored Jeongyeon in favor of finishing her lesson with Dahyun. "Whisper Dragons are nearly extinct because they've been hunted and killed by poachers and…" She trailed off, eyes moving to the girl who just scared him, "...witches on the opposing side."

"Alright, get in!" Momo grinned from where she sat at the bow of a small boat. 

"You have a boat?" Jihyo asked, to which Momo scoffed. 

"I have the ability to shape shift into any aquatic mammal I want," She reminded, "Why would I need a boat?" 

"To fish?" Sana suggested, and Momo gave a look of disgust. 

"Oh, so you'll eat human spleens and liver but you won't eat a fish?" Chaeyoung rolled her eyes before stepping off of the dock, onto the boat in one large step.   
Momo put a hand out for Jihyo to take, helping h  
er step onto the boat while it shifted under her feet. Dahyun sat across from Jihyo, and Nayeon took the time to help Sana aboard. 

"I'm not getting on that thing." Jeongyeon pouted, and Charlie cackled at her like a hyena before leaping into the boat and curling under the wood slat Dahyun sat in.

"Come on, Pyro," Mina giggled, elegantly pirouetting from the dock onto the boat before sitting at the stern, taunting her with that big, cute smile that Jeongyeon felt blessed to see, but right now, she was supposed to be stubborn! "Are you really afraid of a little water?" She took a handful of water and tossed it in the air, allowing the droplets to float down in the form of snowflakes. 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes before turning around in a pout of some sort. 

"She's been like a cat for as long as I can remember." Nayeon giggled, causing everyone else to laugh along. 

"Whatever." Jeongyeon harrumphed, but Mina persisted, standing up on the edge of the bow and holding out one hand for Jeongyeon to take, and the other to freeze water under the boat to keep it still. 

"Come on." She smiled kindly, and Jeongyeon rolled her eyes with a huff before taking Mina's hand.

The moment their hands touched, Jeongyeon felt the icy on her flesh, and embraced the way it made a chill run up her spine.

Instead of letting Jeongyeon's touch shock her or pain her, Mina focused on it, and let herself become one with the heat. She inhaled and felt the warmth wash through her bloodstream, for the first time, Mina felt what true warmth was. 

And she loved it. 

Jeongyeon stepped up onto the boat on shaky legs, something akin to a baby dear Mina once saw during her travels with her coven. 

Her coven.

Her dad. 

Overcome with guilt, Mina let go of Jeongyeon's hand as soon as her feet planted, much to the fire witch's dismay. 

"U-uh, melt the ice, please, before it starts hurting the creatures." She asked, and Jeongyeon smiled softly, sitting down beside Mina to stick her hand out and set fire to the ice to melt it. 

Once the ice was melted, the boat shifted, making Jeongyeon jump, taking Mina's hand and feeling that electricity again. 

They locked eyes for a moment, but it was broken when Jeongyeon felt the boat rock again and panicked, clenching onto the side of the boat with her hands. 

Momo was standing at the bow of the boat, slipping her shirt off her slender back after having dropped a rope into the water.

Sana's eyes slid down Momo's strong back and arms as she bent down to take her pants off.

Jeongyeon noticed Mina staring and was able to take her mind off the water long enough to sneer at the creature.

"What the hell are you doing?" 

"Going for a swim." Momo shrugged.

"And you had to get naked for that?" Nayeon asked with just as much bite.

"I mean, I really don't mind." Jihyo shook her head, trying (and failing) not to seem too eager. 

Momo grinned over her shoulder and gave Jeongyeon a dazzling smile, but Jeongyeon would never admit the effect it had on her. 

Finally, she launched herself off the boat, making it shake, and Jeongyeon gasp as everyone watched her body form into that of a river dolphin before diving into the water.

Suddenly, the boat lurched forward and around until Jeongyeon and Mina were up front, being dragged by Momo. 

"Why didn't she just use a motorboat?" Asked Chaeyoung with the roll of her eyes. "Even we have them in our world." 

"The engines are really bad for the enchanted waters." Dahyun explained, "We have to keep the water clean in order for it to serve its purpose of sustaining the life and healing the residents who respect it." Dahyun looked around at the land as the boat exited the bay and merged into a larger area of water.

Every inch of the horizon around them was coated in trees or mountains. The sun peeked over the peak of the highest mountain, shining bright against the unmelted snow at the top, making it seem as though the mountain was sparkling. 

"Open your eyes." Mina giggled to Jeongyeon, whose fingers gripped the boat so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

"No." Jeongyeon pouted, and Mina hesitated to take the girl's hand, causing the taller witch to pry her eyes open in shock. 

"Look." Mina grinned, looking off into the distance at the trees, the way the water shone under the light of the sun. 

"Don't remind me." Jeongyeon groaned, to which Chaeyoung rolled her eyes. 

"Wuss." She mumbled, and Jeongyeon glared across the vessel at the necromancer, who stood upon the boat and propped her foot on the edge, making it shake, much to her own amusement. 

“I’m gonna seer you where you stand!” Jeongyeon growled pathetically from her place, an Tzuyu reached up to summon Chaeyoung back into her seat. 

“You know, for being the oldest one here, you sure are the most immature.” Jeongyeon grunted, and Chaeyoung stood up one last time, a daunting smile on her face as she took one last aggressive bow, making the boat stir aggressively once more. 

Mina noticed the way the boat melted under Jeongyeon’s touch and sighed before turning around to watch the water ahead of them. 

“Look,” Mina whispered to Jeongyeon, who shook her head and kept her eyes clamped shut. 

“There’s no use.” Nayeon spoke up, “She‘s too stubborn.” 

It wasn’t long before the boat approached an island in the middle of the bay, seemingly uninhabited, aside from the single wooden boat dock they approached.

Just when Sana thought this world couldn’t get more incredible, after magical healing water and equality and magic and dragons that shapeshifted and whispered secrets deep within your soul, she was given one more thing to fall in love with. 

The dock emerged onto a beach with sand, damp from the tide of the water kissing it every so often. The sand ended where the trees began, littered all over the place, between boulders covered in moss and flowers. 

“This is incredible!” Sana gaped in wonder as she looked around, running to the right, kicking the sand up behind her as she held her hands out to the sides, looking up at the cotton candy sky above. 

Jeongyeon’s knees trembled beneath her as she made her way to her best friend, whose eyes were focused intently on the excited human. 

Charlie ran between Nayeon’s feet, after Sana, who giggled when he jumped up at her like a giddy beagle. Sana leaned down to pet him, but he yipped before jumping out of the way, into the water on accident. The human let out a cackle before leaning down and splashing him, chasing him further in until her was knee deep, holding the squirming creature in her arms as he licked her face. 

“Okay, I know I’m supposed to hate her, but that’s cute.” Jeongyeon admitted, and Nayeon didn’t react beyond the content smile already plastered on her face. 

Momo morphed back into her human form and grabbed her clothes from the boat before tying it down and making her way through the trees to the darkest part of the forest. “Let’s go!” Momo shouted, catching the attention of the other eight women, who immediately stopped what they were doing to walk after her. 

She climbed atop the tallest moss covered rock and let out an inuman growl, akin to some sort of Gorilla. 

It echoed around the tiny little island, and birds and Fenlies flew away at the disturbance, and less than a minute later, before the eyes of every woman on the island appeared a mansion, floating just above Momo’s head and peaking out taller than the tallest tree around. 

“Seriously, Momo?” Hissed a voice from behind the door just seconds before it swung open, revealing a beautiful woman in a robe, hair toussled and cheeks red. “You always do this.” She groaned, and the creature grinned. 

“It’s good to see you too, Sunmi.” She responded, and the girl smiled before stepping off the edge of the building, landing on the ground ten feet below with ease. She opened her arms, allowing Momo to step in them for a tight, warm hug. 

“I missed you.” Sunmi hummed as they pulled away, and Momo smiled back. “Chanmi is getting dressed.” She offered before her eyes fell on the girls behind Momo with a smile. “She told me you made some friends.” 

“What is she?” Asked Chaeyoung, confused, as she couldn’t feel a soul emanating from Sunmi’s vessel. 

“A vampire.” Nayeon exhaled, and Jeongyeon rose a brow. 

“You haven’t even touched her, how can you tell?” 

“Are you kidding?” Nayeon scoffed, “Nobody living can possibly have cheekbones like that.” She mumbled, catching Sana’s attention. Her eyes fell over Sunmi and she shrugged in agreement. Sunmi did have some wonderful cheekbones. 

“I’d shake your hands but uh…” She chuckled, not finishing her sentence, much to Dahyun’s confusion. 

“But what?” Asked the human, and Jihyo whispered something in her ear, to which she responded with a twisted face. “Well, it’s nice to see you again anyway, Sunmi.” She smiled, and the vampire rose a brow. 

“I’ve never met you before in my life.” She admitted. 

“Hoseok.” Dahyun said simply, making Sunmi’s eyes widen. 

“You’re alive?” She asked in wonder, walking toward her old friend and inhaling her scent. “Yeri’s gonna be so happy!” She exclaimed upon pinpointing the blood scent.

“That is, if we can find her.” Jihyo frowned, and Sunmi’s eyes finally met with the Quizmaster witch. 

“You’re the daughter.” Sunmi stated factually, circling the girl with intrigue, lifting up strands of her hair and smelling them, making the girl tremble in fear, looking down to her feet silently. She moves from Jihyo to Sana, stroking the human’s cheek with her knuckles. “An interesting bunch, you are.” She smiled in amusement when she felt Sana’s jaw quiver under her frozen flesh. 

“Darling, quit terrorizing our guests.” Sounded Chungha’s voice from the doorway, and before anybody could blink, she was standing beside her girlfriend, taking the hand she had on Sana’s face in her own and pressing a kiss against her open palm tenderly. Sunmi seemed to melt into Chungha’s eyes before stepping away and allowing Chungha the space to talk. “What brings you guys here?” She asked of Nayeon, who hasn’t moved since Chungha materialized in front of her. 

“Y-you’re like me.” Nayeon whispered in realization, and the resident gave her a kind smile.

“I’m the only one here.” She admitted, and the two were cut out of their conversation by Jihyo, who was already holding a book out to the woman. 

“Sana found this in the library, and we’re missing one part of the prophecy.” She opened the book and pointed at the one prophesied and unaccounted for.

Chungha read over the list, and when she got to the one in question, Nayeon noticed her face fall. Her mind seemed to go everywhere for a moment, before she closed the book with a sigh.

“I can’t tell you who it is, but I can tell you where to go to figure it out.”


	11. "I Do Not Deserve Your Forgiveness, Almighty Diety."

Jihyo’s eyes washed over every inch of the mansion they walked through the hallways of in awe, the structures made of what must’ve been Helliostone, a rare element that was mined in a town called Hellio, millions of years before the magical world was what it is today. 

Helliostone was a pale white color with a plethora of different colors that veined through it like marble, only each color represented something different, reeking a different benefit from each. 

Blue Helliostone was specifically mined for its potent healing properties, the only substance in existence to revive a man after disembowelment or blood poisoning. 

After the Great Elemental War at the turn of the seventeenth century, blue Helliostone went extinct. 

Green Helliostone was used for mind control. 

Jihyo remembers reading about it in the Great Library back home, and she also recalls being grateful that her father --whoever the man really is-- couldn't get his hands on any. 

Green Helliostone was rarer than dragons in any realm, as it was destroyed by the governing witches back when Yerim had taken rein, a fact Jihyo learned from her mother's journal.

Yellow Helliostone, the rarest of all, has no record of its abilities, only that the aftermath of its use and appearance was catastrophic. 

Every known record of its presence has been described with words like 'Apocalyptic,' and 'of the most grave atrocities ever committed.' 

Some helliostone had much less terrifying and consequential uses. 

Like purple helliostone, for example. 

It's what Jihyo was looking around at as she ventured the corridors of the white and purple marbled home. 

Purple helliostone floats.

Hence why this house is floating five feet above the ground.

It's also known for its protective abilities, having only been found and mined around ancient witch's burial grounds. If mined properly, and with the right charms, it has been known to burn a man with ill intent to ashes in honor of protecting the miner.

If mined improperly or disrespectfully, it can erase the existence of an entire bloodline, with no trace, no memory or their mark on the planet. 

Everything they've ever done will be erased, every person they've affected unscathed by their footprint. 

Pink was Jihyo's favorite. 

Pink helliostone, commonly used and mined in the Spiritus Mountains, is used to ensure luck. When crushed into thin dust and sprinkled over the crown of any creature, it brings fortune and great coincidence. 

Only, it has to be sprinkled, unprovoked by someone who holds the subject dear and cares for them deeply. 

"So…" Chaeyoung clicked her tongue as she dragged her hands along the walls, watching as the stone glowed under the tips of her fingers. She could feel the soul in these walls. She could hear them harmoniously holding the house up in pure contentment.

Something about this blissful feeling made her feel just a little less heavy hearted. 

"... how long have you lived here?" Chaeyoung asked, trying not to seem too intrigued by the vampire she spoke to. 

"In Oracle bay, about three hundred years." She hummed before looking forward to her lover, who was busy talking animatedly with Dahyun and Momo as they led the nine women to the key to leaving this place. "With Chanmi, seven hundred and seventy three." 

Wow. 

"Wow." Chaeyoung gasped, and Sunmi chuckled. 

"You've lost your first love." She said pointedly, making the death witch look up in a start. 

"How did you-" 

"Loss is something I'm painfully familiar with." She interrupted assuredly, "I lost many many people I love, and I've seen that same sorrow in many. The sorrow of losing the first person you opened your heart to." 

"I'm a necromancer." Chaeyoung admitted, and Sunmi hummed in response. 

"You've seen many come and go then." She bowed honorifically, as the dead --or undead-- often do when addressing Chaeyoung, who stood as the only true, pure gateway between the living and the dead.

"You probably felt my soul when it left." She sighed, to which Chaeyoung stopped in her tracks, holding her hands out, and Sunmi smiled before allowing her chin to rest between the witch's palms tenderly. 

The witch closed her eyes, and, before the eyes of the only other person paying attention, Chaeyoung's flesh burned over her bones, allowing them to shine through, almost blindingly translucent to Tzuyu's eyes.

Remnants of Sunmi's death washed over her gaze, her life flashing before her eyes for Chaeyoung to see.

She saw the sight of Chungha, pleading and begging, refusing to lose Sunmi who, oddly enough, was fine. 

Though, rather than Sunmi's soul, it was Chungha's that seemed weary and weighed down. 

She looked weak and pale, as though she hasn't slept, and she seemed barely able to stand. 

Flashes of Sunmi holding her up, and pulling her to lie down while she held her. 

Chungha was sick, eyes heavy and red, coughing up blood as Sunmi begged her for something.

...

"Let me." Sunmi begged sorrowfully from where she sat, looking down at her lover whose head was in her lap.

"I can't, I-" The witch was cut off by a coughing fit, and Sunmi's eyes spilled, lip quivering as she cried over her dying lover. "I promised I would make this love as human as possible for you." She reminded, and Sunmi smiled sadly, wiping her eyes. 

"What is more human than dying for the woman you love?" Asked the human, and Chungha sniffled.

"I can't live on without you." She whimpered, to which Sunmi scoffed. 

"And what, you think I can just go back to selling fish with my father?" 

Chungha chuckles sadly, reaching a shaky hand up to pull Sunmi down by the head for a searing, desperate kiss. 

One that, should it be their last, Chungha would be happy with it.

"I can't… lose you." whispered the messenger witch weakly, and Sunmi sighed. 

"At least let me stay with you." She pleaded, "Sleep, and I'll hold you in your final moments." 

Chungha whispered one last shaky goodbye before closing her eyes, and Sunmi waited, caressing her dry, cracked hair until she fell asleep with soft snores.

The girl slipped out from under Chungha's head and out the door of the tattered old cabin, into the woods around it where the full moon shone through the trees. 

She stood in a clearing near a lake and waited until she heard the sound of rustling nearby. 

"You can skip the theatrics." Sunmi rolled her eyes, and before she could blink, there was a familiar face staring at her with a concerned look.

"Are you sure about this, child?" Asked the vampire, and she sighed.

"The curse takes the soul of her first love." She recalled, "Vampires are known for being soulless." 

"Yes, but are you ready to feel like a shell of a woman?" He asked, walking around her, much like Chaeyoung recalls Sunmi circling her friends. "Are you ready to leave behind all you know as a human? Are you ready to change your life for an eternity at the risk that you and this girl won't work out?" He asked, and Sunmi closed her eyes. 

"You can't talk me out of this, Tae." She insisted, "I would give my soul to the Gods, even if it meant I'd have to endure an eternity of it being ripped in half over and over again until what's left is dust if it meant I'd be able to keep the world from losing someone as perfect as Chanmi." 

… 

What came next was the second most painful display of soul splitting to exist. 

It included sixteen long nights of draining Sunmi's soul from her body in the form of her human blood, and the feeling of electricity ripping through her veins as though attached to barbed wire, tearing the walls of her flesh with every ounce of blood being extracted. 

"It was all worth it." Sunmi whispered when Chaeyoung pulled away, inky tears running down her cheeks that slowly went back to their original tint.

Not those words again.

It was worth it. 

It was worth giving up a normal, blissful life to be with the very thing that destroyed her. 

How could it ever be worth it?

"I know all about loving a dead woman." Chaeyoung whispered, wiping the ink from her eyes before looking up at the vampire again in sudden worry.

"What does that mean for my friend?" She asked, eyes falling to Nayeon, who walked with Jeongyeon, laughing and talking animatedly. 

Sunmi smiled sadly, patting Chaeyoung's shoulder softly. 

"It means that she's only here for as long as it takes to help you fulfil the prophecy." 

"Here we are." Chungha interrupted unknowingly, a smile on her face as she opened the large oak doors wide enough for everyone to see. 

It was a glass room at the very top of the ten story house, booming with foliage and life, moss growing up the walls and vines curling around the Hellio Pillars that kept the house on its foundation. 

"This is…" Sana gasped as she looked about, the ceiling so high that she could see clouds surrounding the peak of the ceiling, where the two giant glass panels met. 

"Magical?" Nayeon finished, eyes glossy as she stared at Sana in adoration. She stepped forward and took the girl's hand in hers, caressing it with her thumb.

This time, a third pair of eyes watched cautiously, aside from those same two. 

Chungha disappeared behind some wild plant while the others looked around in wonder. 

"I grow some of these in my rooftop garden." Dahyun grinned as she toyed with a bushel of sage between her finger and thumbs. 

"Are you gonna go back to that after all this?" Jihyo asked, and Dahyun sighed. 

"I'm not sure." She admitted, "As much as I love this place, I built the place in new york for myself, and it's just as much a part of my life as Oracle Bay." 

"W-what about my mom?" Jihyo asked, too discouraged by everything to be sure of anything other than the fact that she needed her family.

"We'll have to see where this all goes." Dahyun assured, "But I will never leave you, or your mom again." She promised, eyes filled with a sincerity that couldn't be feigned. 

"Why'd you leave last time?" Jihyo asked, and the woman sighed sadly. 

"I died." She admitted, "I only got to see a glimpse of you as a baby before I was torn away from you and your mother." 

"How..?" Jihyo asked, voice weak as she tried to keep herself from crying. 

"It was sudden…" Dahyun shook her head, eyes squinted in an attempt to remember, to no avail. "I last remember handing you to your mom." 

Jihyo's lip quivered before she opened her arms to pull her parent in for a hug tightly. "I'm glad I got a chance to meet you." She mumbled into Dahyun's neck, and Sana watched as the other human's eyes grew soft, and as she wrapped her arms around her daughter at last. 

"Alright," Chungha sighed as she walked through with a handful of what could only be described as grains of bright green rice. "these time grains will allow you to walk back through the most defining moments to the prophecy." She explained, passing one to each girl. "It will not allow you to change time, only to look through it, and each grain is one trip." 

"Where will we end up when the grain wears off?" Asked Sana, and the older messenger witch smiled. 

"Exactly where you need to be." She promised, "You can take up to two people with you, so I suggest you each grab two partners and stay united. Getting lost in time will render you mad when you come back, as you'll have no perception of reality." She warned, and everyone looked around in anticipation. "There is no telling whose destiny path you'll land in, so I hope you all trust one another enough to roam around each other's pasts." 

Nayeon stepped beside Jeongyeon instantly, causing the fire witch to smirk arrogantly, only for that smirk to fall when Nayeon reached a hand out for Sana to join.

"Great…" Jeongyeon huffed under her breath as Momo immediately clinged herself to Jihyo's side. 

"Would you…?" The Quizmaster witch inquired of the human, whose eyes lit up in pure excitement 

Tzuyu looked between Mina and Chaeyoung, who both seemed painfully unbothered by who they would be paired up with.

Though Tzuyu couldn't have asked for a better duo to have with her. 

"Now," Chungha hummed as she stood between the nine women, hand in hand with Sunmi, "Place the grain on your tongue and close your eyes. Make sure you‘re thinking about the mission at hand, to avoid any detours on the way back.” 

“This just gets more and more exciting, doesn’t it?” Chaeyoung scoffed, arms crossed over her chest. 

“It’s not like you’re gonna die anyway.” Jeongyeon scoffed, making Chaeyoung’s lip quiver. 

“There are things much worse than death.” She muttered, making Nayeon roll her eyes. 

“Since when are necromancers so dramatic?” Asked the messenger witch, and Sana sighed. 

“Can we just get on with this? I’m sick of hearing everyone fight.” 

“Alright,” Chungha responded, standing in the circle and rubbing an orange powdery substance between her palms, making it fall to the feet of each girl inside the circle, missing Charlie by a hair. “‘By the sun and the moon, by the skies and the seas, by the light and darkness, I pray and I beg that you allow us to access the ability to turn back the hands of time. We plead with you and we beg that you let us uncover the truth of history.'” She chanted softly, kneeling in the circle and pulling a match out of her pocket, lighting it and tossing it at Jeongyeon's feet and igniting the circle into a bright blue flame, surrounding the couple and separating the two from the nine women before them. 

Over the sound of Chungha's incantations sounded a loud hissing noise, as though the magic has begun working. 

The light became blinking, a quite literally sentiment, as Jihyo's sight vanished, leaving her in a sea of darkness for what seemed like an eternity, until it dawned upon her that she just needed to open her eyes. 

Upon lifting her heavy lids, Jihyo was met with the sight of… 

"General Hyuna," Sounded a voice from behind Jihyo, and she, along with Momo and Dahyun, all turned to see a familiar face. 

"M-mom?" Sputtered the Quizmaster witch before reaching out to touch her, only for her hand to pass through the woman's shoulder. 

"Oracle Yerim… I heard you were on your way here." Answered the General, opening her arms to pull Jihyo's mother in for a hug.

"I have news about a prophecy." Yerim cleared her throat, handing a folded up sheet of parchment to the General. The woman unfolded it, and Momo creeped behind the woman to read the paper over the General's shoulder quietly. 

"It only has eight." Momo hummed, walking back around to address her companions.

"Which one is missing?" Asked Jihyo, and Momo rolled her eyes. 

"Yours, obviously." 

"Well, D-" Jihyo cut herself off from calling Dahyun when she saw the woman's longing gaze locked on her mother. 

Her eyes seemed red, and her fingers were trembling as she fought against herself, knowing that there was no use in reaching forward when Jihyo had just tried.

Charlie, somehow, stood at Dahyun's feet, mesmerized by the woman everyone seemed to be paying attention to.

"Let's go." 

… 

"That was awesome!" Sana giggled excitedly, looking around at her surroundings, which seemed to be near an old watering hole near Spiritus, assuming Sana had known her surroundings well. 

Which, she did.

"It's… nothing like interdimensional travel, that's for sure." Nayeon grunge, stumbling to the side, just barely stopping herself from falling into the watering hole. "Jeongyeon, are you-" Nayeon was cut off when she saw her companion laying on the ground, staring up at the sky. 

"No, I'm not." Jeongyeon grumbled, covering her eyes with her arm. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up." 

"Must be from the water earlier." Sana shrugged, and Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. 

"Well, we did just suspend our subconsciousness into a sea of time, so it is natural to feel uneasy." Nayeon rationalized, making Sana do a double take in her mind.

She had always read that time travel had nothing to do with time exactly, but the space that is taken up around the person trying to manipulate it. 

And if Nayeon's statements were true, why was she, a totally normal human, the most well adjusted out of the three. 

Sana's eyes wandered across the pond, to a beautiful brunette woman walking the trail around the water. 

She sat on the ground patiently, legs crossed over one another, hands folded in her lap, eyes closed peacefully as she meditated, allowing herself to become one with the nature surrounding her.

Something about the woman drew Sana near. She stepped closer while Nayeon had distracted herself with reviving her friend.

The human slowed down when she got nearly a meter away from the woman, taking easy steps, so not to distract her.

It was just that something about this woman made Sana's entire chest lift with the rush of being so close to something she had never experienced before. 

Before she could call out to the woman in front of her, the sound of marching came along from the distance. 

The brunette woman stood up calmly with no effort and began a slow walk toward the sounds. 

Nayeon called out to Sana, only for the human to ignore her and continue following the mysterious woman. 

"What brings you here to our world, traitor?" Spat the voice of a man Sana had never seen, but one that Nayeon and Jeongyeon had a vague memory of. 

"I wanted to warn your coven of the prophecy." She offered, trying to hand the man a folded up sheet of paper, but the man looked down at it and scoffed. 

"You lost our trust when you decided to love a human." He spat hatefully, and suddenly, Jeongyeon remembered who he was. 

"That's Mina's dad." She whispered to Nayeon, who's eyes went wide at the memory of his last moments

...

"Where are we?" Asked Tzuyu as the three looked around at the town they ended up in.

This town didn't look even remotely familiar, as it was packed with cobblestone and horses attached to buggies occupied by humans in big poofy clothing clopped past them, other humans speckling the streets to buy things from the stands.

"Is this some kind of market or trading post?" Mina asked, and Chaeyoung sighed. 

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to relive this." She admitted before walking in the opposite direction, knowing like muscle memory where she was supposed to go. 

"Is this your timeline?" Asked Mina, to which the shortest witch rolled her eyes. 

"Seeing as though I've been alive longer than recorded time, I had a feeling that I'd be reliving a memory." She admitted as she left the other two through a rusty old barn door about a hundred pages away. Her eyes fell upon the back of a much younger version of herself, one with long, jet black curls that went down to her backside, then sighed, "I was just hoping it would be of the time I found a wild cayote and took him home." She admitted, and Mina looked over the necromancer's shoulder to see the memory, but Tzuyu laid a hand on Chaeyoung's stiff shoulder kindly.

"I don't have to watch if you feel uncomfortable with sharing something so intimate with me." She offered, to which the shorter witch looked up, eyes warm, despite the way this memory made Chaeyoung's blood freeze. 

She took Tzuyu's hand from her shoulder, and instead of shoving it away like Tzuyu expected, the shorter woman kept it in hers, twining them together for support.

"Just don't let go of my hand." She whispered, fighting off a sob, and Tzuyu nodded before holding on tighter and watching intently. 

"I've missed you so much, my love." Muttered the voice of eery familiarity, though now, she noted, it was much less heavy and aged, despite Jinsoul not having aged in centuries.

"And I, you." Muttered Chaeyoung in return, pressing her lips to those of the woman she so loved. 

Jinsoul sat in a pile of hay in a stable beside the one occupied by a majestic white horse.

"I hate having to sneak around like this though." Jinsoul sighed, eyeing the animal who let out a gruff winnie.

"I know," Young Chaeyoung whispered, a thumb coming up to caress the lip of her beloved. "I promise that, one day, I'll get you out of this." She assured, and the taller girl smiled sadly before lying her head on Chaeyoung's chest, allowing the shorter woman to lie back, pulling her love with her. 

"I had been crossing the threshold to see her every day for nearly two years when this day came." Present day Chaeyoung uttered, her body trembling as she tried to stand steady. "I had proposed to her, but since it was the human world in the 1700's, we knew we'd never be able to love each other in public…" A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, hitting her dimple as she smiled, a bitter sob coming from her throat in the form of a chuckle. "It was still worth every second." She admitted, and Tzuyu frowned, watching as Jinsoul straddled the younger version of Chaeyoung, unlacing the strings connected to the bust of her dress and pulling them down, revealing her bare back to the three witches. 

"I think they're- or… you're…" Mina blushed, and before she could finish her sentence, the two began to moan together, the stable wood just barely obscuring their sight from the nudity. 

"We should go-" Tzuyu tried pulling Chaeyoung away, but the girl stood still, tears spilling from her eyes as she watched her former self make love to who she thought was her soulmate. 

"You'll miss the best part." The shorter woman uttered under her breath, tone cold and bitter, face unchanging, totally void of emotion. 

Suddenly, Tzuyu's attention was brought to the sound of the barn door being busted open behind them, and through the doorway bursted two angry older men, one welding a dagger, and the other, a riding crop and a hefty fist. 

"Cease this deviance at once!" Shouted the man with the whip, lashing Jinsoul's bare back before she could take herself out of her sex-feuled daze. She let out a sob at the feeling, and young Chaeyoung immediately wrapped her arms around her beloved to lessen the blows until she could stand and turn so she was taking the blows. 

Tzuyu eyed her companion and felt her heart break at the way the woman's body trembled and shook and sobbed upon reliving such an incident. 

She pulled the girl closer and wrapped her arms around the necromancer, allowing the woman to sob into her shoulder, unable to stomach reliving the rest. Tzuyu cradled Chaeyoung's head under her hands and hushed her, rubbing other her hand on the woman's back for support while she watched over Chaeyoung's shoulder. 

The two half nude women cried and plead with the men that they stop, but one yelled while the other continued to lash away at the two with no resolve.

"You have corrupted my daughter, heathen!" Shouted the man with the dagger once the man with the riding crop stopped, and he rose his weapon to lunge at Chaeyoung, but before she could feel the sting of the knife being plunged into her back, she felt herself fall. 

Tzuyu watched as Jinsoul shoved Chaeyoung out of the way, receiving the knife through her bare chest. 

"No!!" Screamed Chaeyoung, a deafening sound that made Mina cover her ears, as well as the two men, one of which in shock, eyes wide and tears already spilling at the realization that he just killed his own daughter, and that at his feet, she was being cradled by the one person who truly loved her. Chaeyoung's eyes turned black, and her flesh turned inside black as her bones cracked out of place. She rose from where she kneeled, walking calmly toward the two men who seemed terrified. 

"May the power of Christ compel you!" Shouted the man with the riding crop, holding up a wooden cross from under his clothes and waving it at her as her jaw fell open, revealing six rows of pearl white teeth. She attacked the man and strangled him until his soul left his body through his eyes. 

She stood up and turned to face Jinsoul's father, looking him deep in the eyes as he crossed silently, trembling from every ounce of his body as he watched his life flash before Chaeyoung's eyes.

"Take me out of my misery, great Goddess of Death!" He plead, throat tight and lungs gasping for air as he fell to his knees and prayed for forgiveness. "I have committed the gravest of atrocities, I do not deserve your forgiveness, almighty deity." He sobbed, and Chaeyoung responded by snapping her fingers, and Tzuyu watched in terror as the man slowly deteriorated into a thick cloud of black smoke. 

She rushed to Jinsoul's side and cradled her dead body, sobbing from the very pit of her being, waiting for her soul to leave her body so she can guide her safely to the one place good enough for someone like her. 

Bliss.


End file.
